


Star Trek Vs Star Wars: The Thrawn Encounter

by Darius_Trent



Series: Star Trek Vs Star Wars [5]
Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:35:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 28,713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25838146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darius_Trent/pseuds/Darius_Trent
Summary: A new ship. An old crew. And a new enemy just waiting for a fight. When Grand Admiral Thrawn enacts his plan to destroy the Federation, only the crew of the USS Sovereign can stand in his way. But how can they expect to prevail against the ultimate enemy? Comments and opinions are welcome.
Series: Star Trek Vs Star Wars [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1483637





	1. Nightmares

Star Trek Vs Star Wars:

The Thrawn Encounter

Following the successful evacuation of the Rebellion from their home universe, the United Federation of Planets has received a wealth of experience and information in fighting the Empire. With this, the Rebellion has been integrated into the framework of Starfleet, with prominent Rebel leaders and figures being given positions in Starfleet or the Federation Council. And with the Dominion on the side of the Federation, the Federation Alliance can once again fight back against the Empire.

However, rumours have recently been circulating of a mysterious Admiral leading the Empire to victory on several occasions. In these battles, there have been no survivors, and complete Imperial victory was achieved. While no-one knows who is behind these attacks, rumours point towards Grand Admiral Thrawn as the mastermind of the new offensive, an Imperial Admiral long thought dead by the Rebels. 

Worse still, Federation intelligence has picked up reports of a new Starship being constructed by the Empire. Said to be a hybrid of Federation and Imperial technologies, anyone who commands this ship is bound to have a major effect on the war. Starfleet has put their best resources into locating the vessel, but it’s only a matter of time before it enters the war...

#  Chapter 1: Nightmares

_ In space, they say no-one can hear you scream. Well it looks like that’s the case. I can’t say or do anything. The only thing I can do is watch as I see the Sovereign burning in front of me. She looks pretty badly hit; there’s deep scars all along the hull, and one of the nacelles looks like it’s exploded, leaving only a shell behind. The rest of the ship is unlit, save for the fires inside illuminating the corridor. I start to wonder what happened to her as I suddenly change perspectives. _

_ A red alert siren blares in the background as fires crackles around me. I’m lying on the floor, in a corridor aboard the Sovereign. Smoke fills the air as I get up. I can’t see anyone else in the corridor with me. _

_ I calmly walk through the corridor as the ship seems to burn around me. The siren’s still going on in the background, and there’s a turbolift in front of me, available for my use. I walk inside and without saying anything, it takes me somewhere. _

_ When the turbolift opens up, I’m greeted by the sign of the bridge burning. Everyone is dead at their stations, either laying slouched over their console or lying on the floor. My first instinct is to check on Miral...she’s not here! She’s not in her chair! _

_ I can hear a chuckling coming from the viewscreen. I look up and see a sight I thought I’d never see. She’s up there alright. Stabbed through the chest with some sort of dagger. It looks like she’s long since gone. There’s blood all over her uniform. _

_ Her body falls away to reveal the source of the chucking. It’s an Imperial officer of some sort alright; he’s got blue skin and red eyes, and he’s wearing a white uniform in the style of the Galactic Empire. A smile broadens across his face as I realise he’s holding the dagger. The dagger that killed her. _

_ A rage builds up inside me like never before. I’ve already lost too much to this stupid war, and I won’t lose anything else. The last thing I know is I’m screaming as flames consume the room… _

Trent woke up with a start in the middle of the night. Sweat dripped off his forehead as he began to settle himself down. Looking around, he realised that he was alone in his bed.

_ That can’t be right. _ He thought to himself, before he noticed Aldrin. She was standing up, with a nightgown on, and a glass of water in her hand.

“I leave you alone for 5 minutes and this happens?”

Later on, both Aldrin and Trent were sitting on the couch in Trent’s quarters.

“So how long have you been having these nightmares for?” Aldrin asked as she put her arm around Trent.

“I don’t know.” He answered. “Days, months, pretty much ever since we left Deep Space 9 to go on patrol.”

“That was, what, 4 months ago?” 

“Yeah.”

“And I’ve been with you all this time and you didn’t think to tell me about it?”

“I didn’t want to worry you or anyone else. I just feel like such a burden all the time and I don’t want to make you have to do anything for me.”

“And why’s that?”

“Look I dunno...I guess ever since I’ve taken command of the Sovereign I just don’t really feel at home. You get what I’m saying here?”

Aldrin silently nodded in understanding.

“I just feel that Starfleet only gave me command of the ship because there was no-one else left. If there had been someone else out there, or even if they had given her to you, they would have left me behind for losing my own command.”

“Hey, no one blames you for losing the Arizona, alright? Those days are long gone. And besides, Starfleet needs you at the moment. You’ve spent the last year fighting these d###s and they need experienced Captains in those chairs. And hey, if Starfleet doesn’t need you, then I need you. If you hadn’t come back with that rebel fleet, I’d probably be down at the bar right now drinking my sorrows away.”

“Yeah, and we all know how that ends now don’t we?” Jokingly replied Trent.

“Yeah, we do.” confirmed Aldrin. “So what happens in these nightmares of yours?”

“They usually revolve around either the Arizona or the Sovereign being badly damaged and on fire. I walk onto the bridge and find everyone dead. But you aren’t there. You’re on the viewscreen and you’ve been...stabbed through the chest by a dagger. And then I see his face.”

“Whose face?”

“Thrawn’s face.” 

“Oh come on. He shouldn't be an issue right now. Don’t you remember how you prevented his return by destroying the Arizona and rigging the pattern?”

“Yeah, but something in my gut tells me he’s out there, somewhere.”

Trent stared out at the stars longingly as Aldrin thought for a moment. He was clearly driving himself up a wall here, continuously doubting his abilities not only as captain but as a person. And here she was, trying to comfort him back to normal. She never expected she had to do this in a relationship ever.

“Look, you did all that you could to prevent them from succeeding, alright? No one has ever doubted your abilities before and they’re certainly not going to now. And so what if they succeeded? We’ll beat 'em back like we did before, am I right?”

“Yeah, we will.” Trent gave Aldrin a slight smile as she pecked him on the cheek.

Suddenly a noise popped up from Trent’s table console signifying that there was an incoming communique. With a silent nod, Aldrin hurried off out of sight of the camera as Trent prepared himself for the meeting. Sitting in his desk chair, he answered the call and was greeted by the face of Admiral Kristen Clancy.

_ “Captain Trent.” _ She began.  _ “What are you doing up this early?”  _

“Oh nothing, just had to get up and do something when you called me.” Lied Trent. Like most other Captains in the sector, he distrusted Clancy, and not because she had command over all of them. She was actually a cold hearted, snobby b#### of a person, and she always found the words to demean or abuse a subordinate.

_ “Well, it looks like one of us actually wants to sleep.” _ She replied. Trent silently gritted his teeth as he held back the words he wanted to say to her right then. 

“What do you want from me?” Asked Trent.

_ “4 hours ago, the USS Wellington was on patrol near the Klingon border when it detected an unidentified vessel. These are it’s last visual scans before we lost contact with her.” _

A blurry image of a vessel appeared on Trent’s screen. It looked like a hybrid of both Federation and Imperial technologies, with a Galaxy Class-style saucer attached to the second level of a Star Destroyer central command area. Where the bridge tower once was was a set of pylons, stretching out sideways until they attached to two Galaxy Class-style warp nacelles. The ship was also covered in several mysterious black lines, all of which lined up along the ship in a perfect, symmetrical manner

“So the rumours are true then.” remarked Trent. “The Empire was building a hybrid ship.”

_ “And now it’s completed.”  _ Finished Clancy.  _ “I received direct orders from Starfleet Command. We are to stop at no cost to destroy or capture that vessel. I am hereby ordering you to rendezvous with my task force led by the Hood at these coordinates.” _

“It’ll take us a fair while to get there, even in hyperspace.”

_ “Just get there as fast as your ship can you wimp.”  _ Insulted Clancy. She couldn’t help but insult him again in an attempt to get a rise out of him.  _ “The Exeter, Ibn Majid, Polaris and Arnold are already here. I’ve also got the Sanders, Endeavour and Marauder on their way as well.” _

“We’ll be there as fast as we can.”

_ “You better. Clancy out.” _

At the border of Federation and Klingon space, the remains of the USS Wellington floated through the deadly silence of space. In a desperate bid to save the Federation, her crew had charged the Niagara Class ship headlong into a battle with the mysterious new Imperial starship almost as soon as they saw it. It proved, however, to be their doom, as she now lay there helpless, her crew dead and the ship a complete wreck. 

With a single shot of it’s turbolaser array, the new Imperial ship finished off the Wellington, hitting the warp core and destroying the ship in a magnificent explosion. The ship merely moved away from the exploding starship as it went back on it’s original course. As it did so, it engaged a stolen cloaking device, rendering the ship invisible to both the naked eye and most sensors.

In the ship’s bridge, Grand Admiral Thrawn marvelled at the technological marvel he now stood upon. Not only was he amazed at how quickly it had been constructed, but also at how powerful the vessel was with it’s new armaments. It was clear to him that the Empire had really streamlined their ship production by this point, so much so that they had leftover Star Destroyer hulls for this project.

“Admiral, the cloak is working perfectly.” reported an officer. “The new turbolaser arrays are also functioning optimally.”

“Excellent.” remarked Thrawn as he walked back down the main catwalk towards the viewscreen. The shape of the bridge wasn’t too dissimilar to that of a normal Federation bridge, but it was very different in terms of layout. A massive raised platform, at least 2 metres high, stood above where the underlings worked in the main trench below. And as the ship also had Federation tech, it had no need of windows, instead a viewscreen in a similar style to that found on Federation vessels occupied it’s place. The massive catwalk that ran through the centre of the bridge stopped at the middle, where it ended in a circular area where the Commander of the vessel or the bridge watch officer could gaze down upon the underlings at work. The entire catwalk and the entire raised area was surrounded by a handrail, allowing officers the chance to steady themselves should the ship come under fire.

“Hail Lord Vader.” ordered Thrawn in his usual, collected voice. Everything he did had a motive behind it, every step he took had a purpose, and this was all a part of his master plan to help the Emperor.

“Hailing them now.” Immediately, the faces of Darth Vader appeared on the viewscreen.

_ “What is it Grand Admiral?” _ Asked Vader, his appearance was never the more frightening.

“Phase one of the operation is complete, my Lord.” reported Thrawn. “We have created a distraction for them. They will no doubt send their entire fleet after us now.”

_ “And we have been waiting to begin our attack for the past 6 hours while you have played this cat and mouse with that ship!” _

“It’s all a part of my plan my Lord.” Assured Thrawn. “Trust me. Once I am finished here, I will give you the all clear to launch your attack, and I will rendezvous with you en route.”

_ “You better.” _

“We shall. Thrawn out.”

“Sir, I am picking up a gathering of Federation ships approximately 8 light-years from our current position.” reported another officer. “8 Federation ships of various sizes.”

“Most likely a task force being assembled to take care of us.” figured Thrawn. “Analyse their configuration and tell me what ship is in the centre of the configuration.”

“Sir, what good will it do knowing what ship is in the centre of those ships?” asked Thrawn’s first officer, Haken Odan.

“Have you really been fighting these people for nearly a year and not know how they arrange their vessels Commander?” Questioned Thrawn, sending a shiver down Odan’s spine. “In order to fight one’s enemy properly, one must learn everything about one’s enemy. I have studied every single engagement we have had with the Federation and in almost every single encounter, the ship with a flag officer or some sort of leading figure has always been the one in the centre of their formations. If we want to deal a crucial blow to their fleets, it is best to attack their lead ship first, in order to create confusion in their forces.”

“I’ve got the lead ship in their formation Admiral.” announced an underling. “Configuration matches that of a Federation Excelsior Class ship.”

“Now is our time to strike. Take us into the system they are in. Once we are there, decloak and let them come to us.”

“Course plotted Grand Admiral. Ready to engage hyperdrive on your command.” announced another underling.”

“Engage.”

Aboard the USS Hood, Captain Desoto attempted to relax on the bridge of his ship. He had just had to pick up Admiral Clancy from Starbase 47, and from the moment she had come aboard had become a nuisance. Not only had she taken de facto command over his ship, but she blatantly ignored his advice in terms of the ship's business and operations. Despite her outranking him, he was still 20 years senior to her, and had much more experience than her in the centre chair, especially the chair of the Hood. 

She had made multiple mistakes whilst in command, from failing to run safety checks on the impulse engines before they left, causing an impulse engine failure while they were exiting Starbase 47, to refusing to allow the crew to end their shifts at their normal time, resulting in the current bridge crew being less than optimally ready for their mission ahead. It wasn’t surprising to him, considering the fact that she had spent nearly her entire career at Starfleet Command, that she had made those mistakes. But she should have at least listened to him when he described the Hood to her, and all it’s little quirks and oddities that needed checking up on. And now, he wasn’t sure whether the ship would be close to ready for an encounter with the new Imperial ship.

“Admiral on deck!” Cried a Lieutenant, causing everyone on the bridge including Desoto to stand to attention. Out of the turbolift stepped Admiral Clancy, and Desoto did his best to hide his distaste for her as she walked onto the bridge.

“Report Captain.” She demanded.

“We detected a grouping of tachyons approximately 2 parsecs away.” Answered Desoto. “Tachyon scans show a single vessel, holding position.”

“Did the Romulans or Klingons send a ship here?” Asked Clancy as she took Desoto’s chair.

“Admiral, the Romulan fleet is still a day away, and the closest Klingon vessels are engaged in a fleet action at Khitomer.” 

“Then it’s them.” Figured Clancy. “Go to red alert, raise shields and arm torpedoes. Tell the rest of the task force to do the same”

The ship went to red alert as the crew suddenly sped up all their actions.

“Admiral, would it not be prudent to wait for the Sovereign to arrive and then transfer to them?” Proposed Desoto. “After all she’s much better suited to combat than the Hood is.”

“Is that fear I smell in you Desoto?”

“I’m merely suggesting something to you. You know that the Hood is over 70 years old at this point. The Sovereign would be the more optimal command ship.”

“Desoto, don’t you have a family back on the Rigel Colonies?”

“Yes I do.”

“And tell me, if this ship were to be let loose on the Rigel Colonies, what would happen to them?”

“They would be destroyed-”

“Which is why we have to take this thing out now, while we have the chance.”

“Admiral, ship decloaking where those tachyon emissions are!” Reported the ship’s tactical officer.

“Hail all the ships in the taskforce.” moments later, Clancy’s voice echoed through all the other ships in the taskforce.

“This is Admiral Clancy aboard the Hood. All ships engage the unidentified Imperial vessel. Use attack pattern beta-6. Starships Ibn Majid and Polaris are to escort the Hood. Clancy out.”

The Hood and it’s fellow starships moved through space to engage the Imperial hybrid. The hybrid sat there as it awaited it’s prey to make it’s eventual mistake of thinking that the ship had a limited range. And so the Federation ships charged ahead, not knowing they were about to enter a slaughterhouse.


	2. A Massacre

#  Chapter 2: A Massacre

_ Captain’s Log, Stardate 58499.88. The Sovereign is now proceeding at all speed to Admiral Clancy aboard the USS Hood. Communications with the Hood have been silent for the past several hours, but our last communications with them suggest that they had picked up a cloaked ship in the vicinity.  _

The realm of hyperspace was much different to that of real space. The cosmic standard of black space was replaced with a tunnel-like bright blue landscape, whilst still having the same masses and planets that were in real space. The unique properties of this seperate layer of subspace meant that ships could travel many times faster than any warp drive in existence, and a journey across the Galaxy could take mere weeks instead of the years that it would take a ship travelling at warp.

It was through this hyperspace that the USS Sovereign now travelled. The Federation starship wasted no time as it flew through the vastness of the region, in a desperate bid to get to it’s destination on time. Although being one of the most advanced Federation ships in service at that time, it was still fairly slow in hyperspace compared to some other ships, as both Rebel and Imperial ships were still many times faster than it or any other Federation ship.

Inside the bridge of the Sovereign Class ship, Captain Trent sat in his command chair, slightly agitated as he awaited the ship to drop out of hyperspace. He was concerned for the safety of the taskforce, with the fact that they had detected a cloaked ship concerning him more than anything. After all, if the Empire now had cloaking devices, then it meant that their ships could sneak up on Federation ships undetected and attack, leading to more chaos and confusion than when the Empire began using their hit and run tactics on Federation task forces.

“Captain.” Called Aldrin as she walked onto the bridge. Her appearance startled Trent out of his deep thoughts and back into reality.

“Yes Commander?” replied Trent as he straightened himself out in his chair.

“I’ve received word from Starfleet Command. They were just as surprised as we are when they heard that the Imperials had cloaking devices. They’re checking in with both the Klingons and Romulans to see whether they’ve lost any cloaking devices recently.”

“Well, until then we’ve got to work with what we’ve got.” Stated Trent. “Hawk, what’s our ETA?”

“We should be there in 2 minutes sir.” Answered Hawk. 

“Th’etonnor, any word from the Hood?”

“I haven’t received any transmissions from the Hood or any other ship in the task force. I did get a burst transmission from one of the ships, but I can’t tell who it was or what it contained. The computer’s still decrypting the message.”

“Very well then. Horan, what can you give me on your analysis of the Wellington’s visual scans?”

“I can’t give you much else than a basic description of the ship sir. It appears to be a hybrid of Federation and Imperial designs, with a Galaxy class saucer and nacelles attached to the main body of an Imperial-Class Star Destroyer. There isn’t a command tower like on a Star Destroyer, but there is a bridge like structure on the saucer. There’s also what appears to be several massive impulse engines where the Star Destroyer main engines would be.”

“If they’re impulse engines, then she’d be able to match us in terms of sublight speed.” Commented Aldrin. “And with warp engines, they could potentially be able to match us at warp as well.”

“Well, it looks like we’ve lost that advantage.” remarked Trent.

“Dropping out of hyperspace now Captain.” Reported Hawk, coinciding with the Sovereign snapping back into realspace. 

“Where’s the task force?” Asked Trent as he stared into the seemingly vastness of space.

“I don’t understand, they should be right here.” confusedly replied Hawk. “I have the correct coordinates and everything.”

“Run a complete check of our position. Th’etonnor, what are the scanners saying?”

“There’s a cluster of starships approximately 2 parsecs from our location. However, I’m not reading any power signatures.”

“Lifesigns?” Asked Aldrin.

“Not many.”

“Captain, I’ve checked our coordinates against the star charts.” Announced Hawk. “We’re exactly where we should be. We’re also in visual range of those ships.”

“Onscreen.” ordered Trent. What followed was a sight that no-one had seen since the Battle of Wolf 359.

The entire task force was nothing but a collection of wrecked husks drifting in space. All the ships had pieces sheared right off them, and fires still burned within the wrecks. The view was so shocking that some on the bridge gasped at the sight.

“The Marauder.” Aldrin noted as she looked at the Cheyenne Class ship. The edges of the saucer had been destroyed, while two of the nacelles had been blown right off.

“The Exeter.” The Ambassador Class ship looked like the stardrive section had exploded due to a warp core breach, leaving only the skinned saucer section remaining. 

“The Hood.” All that remained of the once proud Excelsior Class ship was a saucer cut off before the bridge, connected to a hole ridden secondary hull that led on to one lifeless nacelle. No-one needed confirmation that Admiral Clancy had been on that ship.

“How many people were on those ships?” Asked Trent.

“Overall, there were approximately 3,000 people across all 9 ships.” Answered Th’etonnor. “Now, there’s less than 400.”

“Sir, there’s an Imperial probe within the battlefield.” Announced Horan. “It’s broadcasting a repeating message.”

“Put it through.” What followed was the voice of a calm, collected male, with a hint of purpose in his voice.

_ “To any Federation vessels reading this now, by the time you receive this message it will be far too late for you. Our fleets would have already crippled your border colonies and member worlds, and any resistance you could bring to bear would have arrived too late. But before you despair at your fate, it is only fair you know the person who took this all away from you; it was I, Grand Admiral Thrawn, and the ship whose power you have undoubtedly witnessed by now was the ISD Chimaera II. If you seek revenge after this message, know that no ship that you field will ever stand a chance against this ship, or the proud Empire that it serves. Your best and what I would consider the most preferable option at the moment would be to surrender and allow us to go to the negotiation table. If you fail to do so, this will only be the beginning. That has been all. Message repeats. To any-” _

“Shut that damn thing off!” demanded Trent. At once, his voice was silenced, leaving the bridge in deadly quiet.

“Sir, I’m getting a distress signal from the Ibn Majid.” announced Th’etonnor. “A Lieutenant Commander Christobal Rios.”

“...I repeat, this is Lieutenant Commander Christobal Rios of the USS Ibn Majid, we are *kaff, kaff*, severely damaged and require immediate assistance.” raspily stated Rios as he struggled to stand up on the remains of the bridge. Everything he could see was blackened and charred, from the bridge chairs to the side wall consoles. Most of his fellow officers were either dead or dying, and his cherished Captain, Captain Alonzo Vandermeer, was somewhere in the depths of space after a hit to the bridge blasted a momentary hole in the roof, leaving him the highest ranking officer aboard.

His head suddenly started spinning as he fell back into his second officer’s chair. The last thing he saw were several figures beaming in, but he couldn't tell whether they were Starfleet or not…

When he woke up, he found himself staring at the ceiling of a Sovereign Class sickbay. A Denobulan was busy working next to him, scanning him with a medical tricorder, before moving into the next room and speaking to someone indistinctly. He tried to get up, but when he did, his entire body winced in pain, causing him to get back down.

“Easy, easy there Commander.” Hushed the Denobulan as he calmed Rios down. “You’ve just gone through major lung regeneration, you need to rest.”

“To hell with rest.” replied Rios as he attempted to get out of the biobed to the Denobulan’s great ire. “I need to get back on the Ibn Majid.”   
“I don’t think you’ll be able to get back to her for a little bit.” Stated another voice, this time of a human male. He looked to be a similar age to Rios, except with less stubble and with Captain's pips on his collar. “While they build those Curiosity Class ships tough, they can still be just as crippled as your ship is.”

“I’m sorry.” apologised Rios. “I just want to get back in the fight.”

“I know where you’re coming from.” replied the man as he extended his hand in friendship. “Captain Darius Trent, Commanding Officer of the USS Sovereign.”

“Lieutenant Commander Christobal Rios, Second Officer of the USS Ibn Majid.” Rios responded as he shook Trent’s hand. “What’s the status of my ship?”

“Well, she’s still together, but barely. She’s got major hull breaches across all decks, and it looks like the impulse reactors blew out at some point in the fight. Reserves are at minimal, and life support’s gone offline. My best engineers are at work trying to restore main power as we speak.”   
“Makes sense. We were pushing her hard to try and outrun those...beams they were firing.”

“What beams? We haven’t faced her in combat yet.”

“It had these phaser-like strips all over the surface,” Explained Rios as he sat on his biobed, “but they had the same power output as a turbolaser at extreme close range, even beyond the normal range of a Star Destroyer. There were dozens of them all over the ship, even in the aft and ventral arcs.”

“I see.” replied Trent as he attempted to hide the look of worry on his face. Before he could reply, his combadge went off.

_ “Aldrin to Captain Trent.” _

“Trent here. Go ahead.”

_ “Sir, the Destiny and Olympus have replied to your calls. They are now en-route to our location at best speed, and will arrive in approximately 3 hours.” _

“Very well then. I wonder why the hell Admiral Clancy didn’t call upon them to join us.”

“I remember Captain Vandermeer asked her about that. She said that she needed them to patrol the border of the Archanis bubble in case the Imperials begin to attack further.”

“The Archanis bubble…” Trent went into deep thought. As it was so aptly named, the Archanis bubble was essentially the sphere of space which the Empire controlled in this region of space, centred around the Archanis system. But there was no real strategic value in keeping those ships there when there hadn’t been combat near the Archanis bubble in months. Unless…

“S###, why didn’t I see this earlier?!” Exclaimed Trent as he realised what would happen. “Aldrin, tell those ships to continue patrolling the Archanis bubble. Tell them to run deep scans into the bubble, both in Hyperspace and in Real Space. If they detect even one Imperial ship on it’s way out of the bubble, I want them to call for reinforcements and try and get them before they reach the border.”   
_ “...Aye sir.” _

“Are there any other ships in the area that can help the Ibn Majid?”

_ “There is the USS Da Vinci, a Saber Class ship, which is operated by the Starfleet Corps of Engineers. It’s also being escorted by the USS Challenger, a Galaxy Class ship. They’re still over 5 hours away in hyperspace.” _

“Get them here on the double. They’ll have to whip the Ibn Majid into shape while we go after the Chimaera.”

_ “I’ll get to it immediately.” _

“Trent out.”

“I don’t understand sir.” Asked the Denobulan Medical officer. “Why must we keep the Olympus and Destiny on patrol?”

“Because moving them away from patrolling that area is exactly what the Empire wants us to do Dolovain.” Answered Trent. “By moving those ships away, we’re giving the Empire unimpeded access to expand further into Federation space.”

“And by the time they could get back to defend the sector, it would be too late.” Finished Rios. “The Empire would have laid waste to all our colony worlds and starbases in the region.”

“If you’ll excuse me Commander, I’ll be on the bridge to coordinate the effort.”

Trent hurried out of the room, leaving Dolovain and Rios alone.

“So, am I cleared for duty?”   
“Well, considering the fact that you just went through major regenerative surgery, I wouldn’t recommend it,”

Rios got out of his biobed and stared down at the much shorter Denobulan.

“O-o-on the other hand, if you feel like you're ready, you can go ahead.” He finished. “You’re free to go.”

Rios breathed a sigh of relief as he walked towards the doors. As he walked out, the Denobulan began thinking to himself.

_ Next time, maybe don’t get intimidated into releasing a patient early... _


	3. Applied Strategy

#  Chapter 3: Applied Strategy

In his study aboard the ISD Chimaera II, Grand Admiral Thrawn stood by his desk as he studied a complex 3D model of the region. Using a series of swipes and pinches, he positioned the model, which centred around the Chimaera’s position, to focus on the recent battle zone and the Imperial Fleet stationed at Archanis. A slight frown developed on his face as he added on the locations of the closest Federation ships compared to where the Chimaera was.

“Admiral, Archanis station recently signalled.” Asked Odan as he walked in. “They want to know why you haven’t signalled the all clear for them to go.”

“Come here, Commander, let me show you something.” Replied Thrawn, gesturing for Odan to come over. Odan, filled with nerves and agitation, walked over.

“You see what this is?” 

“Yes, Admiral. It is a map of this region of the galaxy.”

“You see these two representations on the outskirts of our space here?” Thrawn pointed towards two dots, slowly moving on a curved course around Imperial space. “These are Federation ships, patrolling the border for any signs of Imperial invasion.”

“But why are we letting two measly Federation ships stop us?”

“My plan relies on there being no combat prepared Federation ships being able to stop us from attacking. If these ships pick up the fleet moving from Archanis, they will no doubt attempt to either call for reinforcements or fight them themselves. Either way, the fleet will not be as effective against the Federation after it has to go through those ships.”

“So we’re trying to lure those ships away from patrol so our fleet can attack unimpeded.”

“Exactly Commander. I’ve monitored communications between these ships, and they are both reporting back to this ship, located where we destroyed the Federation taskforce.”

Thrawn pinched in the map to zoom in on the ship in question. It appeared to be a Federation Sovereign Class ship, and the name ‘USS Sovereign’ was emblazoned on the top of the saucer.

“Is that?...”

“It is Captain Trent’s ship indeed. No doubt he was called in to join the taskforce and only arrived after we destroyed it. And he’ll no doubt be trying to hunt me down after the Empire created me without his own knowledge.”

“If he’s going after you, then why not lure him into a trap? We could capture his ship and have it order the other vessels away from patrol to assist them. The fleet could then attack unimpeded.”

“That is what I am planning now Commander. However, for that to work, they would have to temporarily lose contact with their counterparts, and I am unaware of any anomalous planetary systems in this region that could cause them communications issues.”

“Maybe you’ve been looking at this the wrong way.” stated Odan. “after all, why confine him inside a planetary system,” Odan interacted with the map, zooming it out before focusing on another sector of space, “when you could keep him inside an entire sector.”

Thrawn now stared at a reddish anomaly, lying on the border of Federation and Klingon space, that took up half a sector of space. 

“The Briar Patch, as it is known to the Federation. It’s unique properties mean that no communication is capable of penetrating it’s gas layers.”

“We will have to restrict our speed to ⅓rd impulse within the region. It will take that new advantage away from us.”

“I believe a correct proverb from this universe would be, ‘Sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander’. The Sovereign will also be restricted to ⅓rd impulse, and interference from the nearby gasses with cloud their communications systems. The situation will favour brute strength over finesse, which we possess plenty of.”

“I see.” Remarked Thrawn. “I shall begin preparations to lure the Sovereign into this Briar Patch. In the meantime, you are to report to Lord Vader of our current situation and what we intend on doing.”

“Yes Admiral.” Odan walked out of the room, leaving Thrawn once more to his own thoughts.

Aboard the USS Sovereign, Captain Trent was just beginning a meeting with his senior staff about the current situation. In the room additionally sat the ship’s rebel advisor Lieutenant Wedge Antilles, and the now commanding officer of the USS Ibn Majid, Lieutenant Commander Christobal Rios. Admiral Ackbar, back at Starfleet Command, was represented on the viewscreen at his desk.

_ “Captain Trent, I’d like to say that I am sorry for the loss of Admiral Clancy and all those lost at the battle site.” _ Began Ackbar.  _ “I hope it does not offend you too much, but I never saw her as having any tactical brilliance or capability in her whatsoever, and she was the wrong person at the wrong time.” _

“Oh believe me Admiral, we didn’t really like her either.” Replied Trent. “But still, you should probably not mention that around anyone at command. She formed a lot of connections back there.”

_ “I see. Now, what is your status at the moment?” _

“The Sovereign is assisting the repairs of the USS Ibn Majid until the USS Da Vinci arrives to take her back to the closest Starbase. We’ve been coordinating with all the ships in this sector to try and locate the Chimaera, but so far, we’ve had no success. However, the USS Destiny has picked up a large fleet of 2000 Imperial starships at Archanis.”

_ “It looks like they’re planning an invasion of this region of space.” _

“That’s precisely what we were working on. I’ve also had my officers look at the encrypted transmission we received before we got here, and I think it would be best if they explained it to you right now.”

Th’etonnor and Horan got up and walked to a separate display, located on the decorative wall opposite the windows.

“The message we received was sensor data from the USS Exeter, taken from the start of the battle to the loss of the Exeter.” Began Th’etonnor. “It is coupled with security feeds from outside the ship, which we will show you now.”

The display then showed 4 views from the USS Exeter, the Forward, Aft, Starboard and Port cameras.

The films began with the taskforce rapidly approaching the Chimaera. The status overview above the films showed the Exeter beginning to scan the Chimaera, while the feeds showed the Hood, Ibn Majid and Marauder firing phasers at the Chimaera. The shields on the Chimaera held, but the Federation ships continued pressing their attack. 

Suddenly, at least 2 dozen green beams erupted from the hull of the Chimaera, obliterating the Hood’s shields and destroying a huge portion of the saucer. Across the rest of the ship, explosions perforated across as more beams hit the Hood, cutting holes throughout the secondary hull and slicing off a nacelle. The Hood drifted away in the opposite direction, powerless as the rest of the ships panicked and attempted to evade the Chimaera. 

2 dozen more beams struck the Arnold and destroyed a large portion of the secondary hull, sending the New Orleans class ship spiraling away. As the Ibn Majid attempted to evade beam after beam, it too was struck with the immense amount of firepower, creating massive hull breaches across all decks as the impulse engines exploded, fire gushing out of the exhausts. Several beams struck the Exeter on the port side, shorting out the camera as the status indicator above indicated the explosion of the Ambassador Class ship’s port nacelle.

Through the ship’s remaining cameras, the battle looked like a lost cause. Ships were going up in flames left, right and centre, whilst unable to cause any damage to the Chimaera without getting severely damaged themselves. The last thing the cameras saw before they all shorted out was the Nebula Class ship Endeavour exploding as a huge set of beams blacked out the forward camera. The rest of the cameras shorted out as the indicators above showed that the ship suffered a warp core breach.

“We managed to decode what the Exeter’s scanners could pick up about the Chimaera.” Continued Horan. “I do not kid you when I say this, but this thing is a literal beast.”

The schematics of the vessel began to roll down on the screen as a rotating 3D model appeared above it.

“30 turbolaser-based beam arrays, a grid-based shield system and 5 missile launchers loaded with antimatter missiles. A ventral hangar bay capable of holding at least 30 TIEs of any known variant. Scans of the ship’s power output indicate a matter-antimatter warp core instead of an ion-based reactor, and the amount of power it’s putting out could allow the ship to reach speeds of warp 9.9.”

_ “It looks like we’re going to have to overwhelm this thing with ships.”  _ Remarked Ackbar.  _ “I’ll reroute the 7th and 4th fleets to reinforce the Olympus and Destiny on the border, but they’ll be preoccupied with the Imperial threat there. You’ll be on your own until we can get reinforcements out to you. Additionally, until a higher ranking or experienced officer can arrive, I am making your ship the command ship of this sector. You will have to coordinate with all the ships in this sector to defend against the Empire.” _

“Very well then Admiral.” Replied Trent. “We’ll do our best.”

_ “I know you’ll manage. Ackbar out.” _

The screen shut off, leaving blackness in it’s place.

“Well, does anyone have any suggestions as to what to do now?” Asked Trent. “I’m all ears.”

“I could have the Ibn Majid divert all repairs to our weapons systems.” Suggested Rios. “It’ll allow us to defend ourselves while you go after the Chimaera.”

“Very well then Commander. You get to that as soon as you get back aboard.”

“I was thinking we could cover the area with probes and try to find her that way.” added Antilles. “Maybe we could send out a few fighters as a scouting force as well.”

“That would be a good idea, but it would take a while for us to unload enough probes and fighters to cover the area.” rebutted Th’etonnor.

“What if we try and re-activate the old Klingon Neutral Zone sensor platforms?” Put forward Horan. “After all they were never really disassembled. They were only deactivated. And the sensors they have are just as powerful as the ones aboard the Sovereign, and can scan much farther as well. We could refocus them so that they scan into Federation space instead of Klingon space, and make them scan into hyperspace.”

“That could work,” figured Th’etonnor, “although it would depend on what condition the outposts are in. With nearly 50 years of neglect, someone’s bound to have stolen something from them at some point.”

“It’s probably our best shot at this point. I want you and Th’etonnor to work on trying to remotely re-establish the sensor net and find the Chimaera. Until then we’ll be manually scanning the region for the Chimaera. We leave in an hour from now. Get your stations ready. Dismissed.”

An hour later, on the bridge of the USS Ibn Majid, Lieutenant Commander Rios was still settling into the Captain’s chair. Looking around him, crewmembers were busy getting the ship in top-notch shape before the Sovereign had to depart. He collected his thoughts as he began to ponder on how he managed to get command of a starship he had no intention of commanding.

“Captain.” called an ensign from behind him. He was startled at the thought of being called Captain aboard this ship. No sooner had he begun to feel like the Ibn Majid was the home he never had was it all ripped away from him, all for some war he had no say in starting.

“Yes Ensign?” replied Rios as he straightened himself out.

“All crewmembers from the Sovereign have now beamed off the ship.”

“Very well then. Status update on the repairs?”

“We’ve managed to seal all the hull breaches with containment fields, and the phasers are back online. Chief’s working on restoring the warp drive so that we don’t have to be tractor beamed back to base.”

“Any luck on the impulse engines?”

“They’re shot sir. When the reactor went, it took out the entire assembly. The best we’ve got is maneuvering thrusters.”

“I see. Well, we’ll have to work with what we’ve got.”

“Sir, the Sovereign is hailing us.” announced another ensign.

“Onscreen.” Almost immediately, the face of Captain Trent appeared through a filter of slight static.

_ “Is everything alright over there?” _ he asked as Rios got up from the chair.

“Well, we’re in good working shape to take care of ourselves until help arrives.”

_ “I’m sorry we couldn’t stay longer, but there aren’t any other ships in the sector who can pursue the Chimaera at the moment. Besides, the Sovereign’s the most advanced ship in the sector currently. If there’s any ship that can stand against the Chimaera, it’s us.” _

“We’ll just be sure to watch our back here.”

_ “The Da Vinci will be here in 4 hours. You sure you don’t want me to leave behind a fighter escort?” _

“We’ll manage on our own thanks. Besides, you need those escorts more.”

_ “Very well then. Until next time.” _

The viewscreen cut out, returning to the view of the Sovereign amongst the wreckage of the fleet. The powerful ship began to turn away from the viewscreen, moving away from the debris field before it suddenly went to warp, leaving the Ibn Majid once more alone.


	4. The Briars

#  Chapter 4: The Briars

The depths of the Briar Patch remained the same as they always had been. Metreon Gas swirled together in massive clumps and other gasses mixed around, creating a beautiful reddish hue that not only disrupted subspace communications, but also interfered with impulse engine functions. It was the perfect place to lay a trap.

The ISD Chimaera II dropped out of hyperspace just before the massive region of space. The vessel, despite being based around the massive frame of the Imperial Star Destroyer, was still dwarfed by the massive clouds of gas and dust that it rapidly approached. Crewmembers aboard were awestruck by the view as most found themselves stopping what they were doing and marvelling at the view.

In the bridge, Grand Admiral Thrawn stood at the end of the catwalk as he leaned over the railing, surveying the underlings at work below him. Underneath him, officers and crewmen alike flipped switches and pressed intercoms as they prepared the ship for entry into this massive region of space. It was only a matter of time before they would catch the Sovereign out, and take her and her crew captive and use them against the Federation.

“Did you ensure our course took us past the outpost?” Asked Thrawn as Odan walked into the room.

“Yes Admiral. Not only that, but I made sure the cloak was temporarily dropped while we went past it as well. It’ll make them think we haven’t fully worked it out yet.”

“An interesting choice to take, except the effects of the gasses in this region of space will render the cloaking device useless.” 

“Well, it’s not like we’ll need it anyway.”

“You are correct. Have our TIE scouts search for an area within the gas clouds where it will be the most difficult for their sensors to penetrate.”

“Yes sir.”

Odan walked off the bridge as Thrawn continued to survey the matters below him, deep in thought. This operation was going to be relatively straightforward, if his subordinates managed to follow his orders. He snickered to himself as he thought back and reviewed his old form’s memories.

He had risen up through the ranks and become a Grand Admiral after achieving a victory over rebels at Batonn, before focusing on much larger rebel threats elsewhere across the Galaxy, usually centering around the planet Lothal. And while his memory beyond that point was cut out, he had heard from the Emperor that the rebels in that sector had been recently dealt with, forced out of their universe and into the Federation Universe. Although not the complete victory he had hoped for, he would get another chance at them, once he had defeated the Federation, the rebels would be left with no other alternative, and their defeat would be swift under his watch.

They would all fall under his watch. The Klingons. The Romulans. The Cardassians. The Dominion. He had plans for them all, even the mysterious Borg, based on the rumours he had heard. All powers in this universe would fall under the might of the Galactic Empire, and there was nothing anyone could do to stop him…

_ Captain’s log supplemental. No sooner have we started searching for the Chimaera that we have found her. I am currently conferring with my officers about what our next move should be. _

“Are you sure it’s the Chimaera?” Asked Trent as he, Aldrin, Th’etonnor and Antilles crowded around Horan at his science station.

“It matches the Chimaera’s exact configuration sir, and it’s energy signature is exactly the same as what the Exeter scanned earlier.” Answered Horan as he replayed the data from the old Neutral Zone outpost. The display showcased a video of the Chimaera rather quickly racing past the outpost, seemingly unaware of it’s existence, before speeding into the distance.

“I’ve managed to get a good estimation of her course based on her speed and heading.” stated Horan as he switched the display to that of a map of the local region. A line began to form, showcasing the computer’s estimation of the Chimaera’s course. Horan continued to talk as the course continued to generate.

“Based on these estimations, in roughly 4 hours, the Chimaera will be here.” He pointed at a large red blob on the map that the line went straight through. The blob covered at least half a sector, and within it lay several star systems.

“The Briar Patch.” figured Trent. 

“Isn’t that sector of space known for subspace anomalies and large quantities of Metreon gas?” Queried Aldrin.

“The Briar patch is well known for it’s various subspace anomalies and limitations, as well as the abnormal amounts of exotic gasses within it, yes.” Replied Horan. “The natural effects of the region render subspace communications useless, and the large quantities of gas mean that ships traversing the region are restricted to ⅓ rd impulse so as to not clog up the impulse manifolds with gas.”

“And if your subspace communications are disabled in there, then hyperdrive will no less be affected too.” surmised Antilles.

“Captain, they’ve pinned themselves down.” stated Th’etonnor. “Now’s our chance to strike at them.”

“It may very well be Th’etonnor, or it could be a trap to lure us into a position where we can’t cry for help.” replied Trent.

“But, Captain-”

“Can’t you see? This is exactly what Thrawn wants. By luring us into a region where we lose all speed and communications, he can capture our ship with ease. And as we’re currently the commanding vessel of this region of space, he can use our ship to then order all the vessels on patrol to other locations.”

“And then allow the fleet at Archanis to slip by undetected.” figured Th’etonnor. “Why didn’t I see that earlier?”

“Don’t beat yourself down Commander. It’s alright to slip up every now and then. And trust me, I want to beat the crap out of that ship just like everyone else. But I’m not going in unless we can find some way of negating the effects of the Briar Patch.”

“Bridge to Engineering.” stated Aldrin as she used the ship’s intercom. “Is there any way we can prepare the ship to function optimally within the Briar Patch?”

_ “As you know, under normal conditions the ship would be restricted to ⅓rd impulse power, as the various radiation anomalies and gaseous masses mean that our warp drive is non-functional and the impulse manifolds are easily clogged up at high speeds.” _ Began T’pon as he answered the intercom.  _ “However, I can reconfigure the impulse manifolds so that they can filter out more gasses. It should allow a speed increase of up to ⅔rd impulse speed. I can also apply this to our fighter and runabout compliment as well. By my estimates, we can have it all completed in 4 hours.” _

“Thank you. Please get onto that as soon as you can.”

_ “Understood Ma’am. Engineering out.” _

“I can perform an analysis of the region in order to find the most likely places where they could hide.” suggested Horan. “It’ll allow us to design our search parameters more effectively.”

“Get on that Horan.” Ordered Trent. “The’tonnor, are there any free ships in the area?”

“None that can get here within a reasonable time sir. The closest Federation vessels are the USS Excalibur and it’s fleet of 2 dozen ships, but they’re currently escorting a group of Thallonian vessels through a warzone. There is also a small Dominion taskforce located approximately 20 light years away from us, engaged in a fleet action in the Solaria system. Both fleets won’t be able to get here for at least the next day.”

“Request that the Dominion taskforce make it’s way here as soon as it can, and tell Captain Calhoun to meet us outside the Briar Patch once he’s done with that and prepare to set up a tachyon grid. Until they arrive, we’ll wait outside the patch and try and scan for the Chimaera. I don’t want to face a ship that can take out a small task force on it’s own by ourselves.”

“Aye sir.”

“If you’ll excuse me,” finished Trent, “I’ll update Admiral Ackbar on our progress in my ready room. If you need me just buzz me.”

Trent began to walk across the room towards his ready room. One one hand, he knew that if he could follow what he had laid out with his officers to perfection, he could stop Thrawn before things got worse. On the other hand however, he knew that one wrong move could set forth a series of events that could eventually lead to the destruction of the Federation itself. Whatever happened next, he knew he had to tread carefully, lest he bring about the end of society as he knew it.

Aboard the ISD Chimaera II, a crewman was finishing his duties for the day aboard the bridge. The ship had recently entered the area known as the Briar Patch, and he had been at the helm position when they had gone in. The strange mixtures of gasses and clouds appeared beautiful on the screen, a sight never before seen by the crew of this vessel.

“Ahem.” coughed another crewman standing above him. The sound snapped him out of his thoughts, and refocused him back into reality.

“Sorry about that.” he replied with haste. “We’re currently proceeding on course for coordinates 454 mark 618 within this sector, travelling at ⅓rd impulse power. Our ETA is approximately 4 hours as of this moment.”

The other crewman nodded as he took his seat, leaving the crewman to walk out of the trench area and back into the bowels of the ship where his quarters were. The doors to the rest of the ship opened with a swift hiss, unlike the massive 3 layered doors on other Imperial starships that took much longer to open. However long he spent on this ship, he knew that he would never forget his time here.

As he walked along the corridors throughout the rest of the ship, he couldn’t help but feel as if he was being watched. He had known this feeling before; in his long career, he had been in situations prior to this where he had been spied upon. Brushing the feelings aside, he turned to walk into his quarters, and was greeted by a surprise as to it’s current occupant.

“Lieutenant Dresden Smith.” Began Thrawn as he sat in the dark. “One of 5 helm officers capable of flying this ship. You know, I wanted to keep you around, but it looks like I’ll have to get rid of you. After all,”

Thrawn stood up and towered over Smith as he made his point.

“I can’t have an agent of Section 31 aboard this ship now can’t I?”

“How could you tell?” Asked Smith as a chill ran down his spine.

“Oh it was very simple. Our use of subspace must be minimized when the cloak is in operation, so when I saw that there were slightly more naturally occurring subspace emissions from the warp core, I was intrigued. I had the communications officer try and decode the emissions the core was giving off, and it turned out that it was you, telling your friends at Starfleet Command that you had disabled the mantleau wave stabilizers in the warp core and the ship would blow itself up in two hours from now. I never thought Starfleet was capable of such subterfuge.”

“I’m not Starfleet-” was all he could get out before Thrawn shot him in the chest with a blaster. The impact left a singed hole through his chest and sent him flying back out into the corridor. Blood began slowly dripping out of said hole as Thrawn walked up to ‘Smith’s’ now limp body.

“That’s what they all said.” remarked Thrawn. He turned and walked up to a communications panel and accessed the maintenance comms.

“Cleanup on deck 47, corridor 15, section 4.” He ordered into the comms panel, before switching it off and walking away. Taking one last glance at the agent’s body, he turned away and continued walking down the corridor, leaving the agent’s body slumped against the wall.


	5. Unsettling News

#  Chapter 5: Unsettling news

Aboard the USS Olympus, Captain Darwin Mercer paced around the deck of the bridge as he attempted to settle his nerves. He had been placed in command of the 4th fleet by Captain Trent shortly before he had changed course for the Briar Patch to pursue the Chimaera, and now he was in charge of the lives of over 100,000 Starfleet, Klingon, Romulan, Jem’hadar and now Rebel lives spread out across over 300 different ships of various sizes and allegiances. It was a big step from commanding a Federation Galaxy X class ship of just over 1000 crewmembers.

“Sir, could you please stop pacing around?” Asked the Helm officer as she looked back on him. “You’re making everyone here nervous.”

“Well, it looks like we’re all in the same boat now.” Replied Mercer as he walked back up through the science and tactical stations behind the bridge chairs. “Remind me of the layout of the fleet.”

“We’ve got 4 Galaxy wings, 4 Cruiser wings, 20 Rebel Fighter squadrons, 10 Jem’hadar Attack Groups, 15 Klingon Attack Wings, 4 Rebel Carrier groups and 5 Romulan Warbird Groups.” Answered the Tactical officer. 

“Status of the Destiny?”

“She’s in the midst of fitting into the 7th fleet’s formation. She’s now flying under Admiral Picard aboard the Enterprise.”

“I see.” 

“That can’t be right…” remarked the Science officer at the back. “The Imperial fleet disappeared off sensors.”

“Switch to hyperspace scanners.” ordered Mercer.

“Scanning. Oh my…”

“What?”

“The fleet’s in hyperspace alright. They’re heading straight for the border.”

“ETA?”

“8 hours.”

“Put their course on the screen.”

The viewscreen changed from a view out to the stars to that of a map of the sector. The locations of the Olympus’s fleet and the Enterprise’s fleet both popped up on the screen, close to a line which outlined the current border with the Empire. A line began to be drawn from the imperial outpost at Archanis IV through into Federation space.

“If they’re left unimpeded, they could hit at least this sector and the next in at least 2 days.” commented the Tactical officer.

“Red Alert!” ordered Mercer. “Notify Admiral Picard and tell the Romulan ships to begin to run interdiction fields. Send a message back to Starfleet Command: Imperial fleet has departed Archanis on course to the border. 4th fleet is preparing to engage.”

“Captain, there’s at least 2000 ships in that fleet. How do you expect us to stop all of them in time?”

“By doing what we do best.” answered Mercer. “Figuring it out as we go.”

“It’s been 3 hours.” remarked Odan. “Surely they must’ve decided to go in by now.”

He was staring at the viewscreen as he impatiently tapped his gloved fingers on the handrail. Up there, for everyone to see, was the Sovereign, in all her majestic glory. For three long hours, she had just been...sitting there, as if she was waiting for something or someone. 

“Oh he’s clever, he’s very clever.” stated Thrawn as he stroked his chin in thought. “He’s well aware of the little trap we’ve set up here. He’s waiting for more ships to back him up before he makes his move.”

“But how are we going to get her in here now?”

“Very simple, my friend.” answered Thrawn. “By using their own compassion against them.”

“Their compassion?” asked Odan.

“Do you really believe the propaganda that the Empire has put out? Come to my study, I will show you how I intend on doing this.”

Thrawn turned on his heels and walked towards the door that led directly to his personal study. Odan followed him, quickly placing another officer to oversee the bridge until he got back, before walking into Thrawn’s study.

“Tell me Commander, have you ever studied art?” asked Thrawn, seemingly out of random.

“Sir, what does art have to do with anything?” annoyedly complained Odan.

“It’s very simple Commander. When you study a species’ art, you will begin to understand the inner workings of their mind. When you understand the working of their mind, you understand how they react in battle. When you understand that, you can play to their weaknesses.”

Thrawn pressed a few buttons on his desk and an intermittent ticking sound began playing in the background.

“Listen to this, and tell me what you think.” Thrawn requested as the music burst into a rough, string based sound.

Song: Like a Dog

Album: Odyssey Number 5

Artist: Powderfinger

Year: 2001

  
  


_ In all that it takes in all that it shows _

_ The higher the stakes the lower the blows _

_ And all the mistakes that he's never known _

_ Whatever it takes he'll be stealing the show _

_ Now he nervously shakes when we rattle his stage _

_ But he's happy to be stuck back in his halcyon days _

_ Now we're trying hard to reconcile a history of shame _

_ But he reinforced the barriers that keep it the same _

_ If you treat me like a dog _

_ And keep me locked in a cage _

_ I'm not relaxed or comfortable _

_ I'm aggravation and shame _

_ If you treat me like a dog _

_ Yeah you treat me like a dog _

_ But it's a fine fine time for the people in the lucky land _

_ In all that it takes in all that it shows _

_ The higher the stakes the lower the blows _

_ Now he nervously shakes when we rattle his stage _

_ But he's happy to be stuck back in his halcyon days _

_ Now we're trying hard to reconcile a history of shame _

_ But he reinforced the barriers that keep it the same _

_ If you treat me like a dog _

_ And keep me locked in a cage _

_ I'm not relaxed or comfortable _

_ I'm aggravation and shame _

_ If you treat me like a dog _

_ And keep me locked in a cage _

_ I'm not relaxed or comfortable _

_ I'm aggravation and rage _

_ If you treat me like a dog _

_ And keep me locked in a cage _

_ I'm not relaxed or comfortable _

_ I'm aggravation and rage _

“It’s not an all too bad song.” remarked Odan. “But how does this bear any context to the Federation.”

“You must study the context of this song in order to understand it’s relevance Commander. It was written during the human’s early 21st century, in the former nation-state of Australia. At that time, the leader of the Australian government, a man by the name of John Howard, had promised that he would bring around equal rights and privileges for the indigenous people of Australia after the Eugenics wars had all but wiped them out. 

However, towards the end of his time in power, he had failed to do anything related to this, and this song was produced in response. Shortly afterwards, the Australian government collapsed, and it was brought into what was a precursor state to the Eastern Coalition, a belligerent in Earth’s 3rd World War. The collapse of the government would have happened anyway, yet this song illustrates the mindset of the entire civilian population at that time, and how they were willing to give their lives for a small minority which to this day scarcely exists.”

“So what does this show about them?”

“It shows that they are a very violent, yet still compassionate people. When they see what they call a moral or social injustice upon other people, they will move to assist them in any way possible, even if it means sacrificing everything to do so. Whenever someone needs help, you can safely bet that Starfleet will be the first to offer it.”

“Right. So how are we going to use this to our advantage?”

“Because, Commander, all Starfleet Starships are required to answer any distress call by their very nature, regardless of whoever it comes from. Now while it would seem unlikely for them to answer one of our distress calls, we do possess a duplicate of one of theirs.”

Thrawn pressed a few buttons on his desk and a garbled audio transmission filled the room.

_ “This is Captain Sa...USS Wellington...attack by the new Imperial hybrid ship...shields failing, weapons offli...requesting immedia-” _

“That was from the Starfleet ship we destroyed at the border.” remarked Odan. “You saved it’s distress call when we jammed her.”

“I knew it would be appropriate to save it for later.” Replied Thrawn. “And there’s no way they can’t prove it wasn’t the Wellington which sent that by the time they fell for it. We vapourized her and left nothing behind.”

“Well then, I shall see to it that we send out a probe transmitting that message immediately.”

“You see to that, Commander.” Odan walked out of the room with a new sense of purpose, leaving Thrawn once again alone in his study.

  
  


_ “All flight crews, please report to your assigned combat vessels. This is not a drill.”  _ continuously echoed through the hallways as Lieutenant Wedge Antilles ran towards the fighter entrance bay in a full Starfleet flight suit. Not only did he serve as the ship’s Rebel liaison officer, but he also served the additional role of commanding the ship’s complement of 6 McCall Class fighters and 2 Danube Class runabouts from his own modified McCall, the Phoenix. Over the past several months, he and his droid R2-A3 had managed to increase the Phoenix’s performance so that she had greater maneuverability than her fellow McCalls, as well as being able to fire it’s quad phaser cannons for extended periods of time. All of that would come into use during the mission they were about to undertake.

He ran through a door into the bay. All around him, pilots and crews were clambering into and out of their fighters and preparing their ships for take off. Without a moment to lose, Wedge scurried to his docking clamp and climbed down the internal ladder which led to his ship.

“Is everything ready?” he asked R2-A3 as he landed on the floor of his fighter with a soft thud. The cockpit was relatively large and spacious for a fighter craft, almost like a shuttlecraft save for the obvious pleasantries found on one. Where access panels and screens would be were replaced by blocky grey walls and emergency overrides.

“All systems ready for takeoff.”  Answered R2-A3 as he rolled away from the pilot’s controls and towards the nearby custom mount which would hook him up into the ship’s computer. Aboard the Phoenix, he acted as a co-pilot for Wedge, who could never quite get used to flying a fighter with another person in it.  “Hangar control signals ready for departure.”

“Well let’s get to it then.” Wedge pulled up his chair and began to tap a few buttons. “Engaging takeoff thrusters.”

On the underside of the ship, several panels opened up to reveal a series of thrusters on the underside of the ship, strong enough to keep the ship flying once it detached from it’s mount.

“Retracting docking mounts.” Announced R2-A3 as a loud clunking sound echoed throughout the room. The Phoenix fell slightly before the thrusters caught it mid-fall, stopping it over the masses of cargo and people below it. 

“Main engine ignition in 3...2...1...now!” With a sudden burst of force, the Phoenix flew straight through the shuttlebay forcefield. Behind it, it’s counterpart McCalls similarly detached from their rooftop mounting point, before roaring out of the shuttlebay. Further in front, the Danube Class Runabouts Yarra and Murray both waited patiently in formation outside the Sovereign.

“This is Lieutenant Antilles aboard the Phoenix. All attack craft please report in.”

_ “This is Showell, reporting in.” _

_ “Mason, Standing by.” _

_ “Caldwell at the ready.” _

_ “Perkins ready for action.” _

_ “Waters on station.” _

_ “USS Yarra, reporting.” _

_ “USS Murray, on standby.” _

“Alright ladies and gentlemen, our job is to scout ahead of the Sovereign in anticipation of finding the USS Wellington within the Briar Patch. The distress call we received is coming from roughly 2 Million Klicks inside the Patch, so communications between us and the Sovereign will be offline. Use your direct laser comms only in case of emergency, and stick to our pre-designated flight plan. These are your orders. Antilles out.”

The group of small craft roared ahead of the Sovereign in tight formation as the larger Sovereign Class ship tagged behind them. Then, with no sign of fear, they entered the Briar patch, the various gasses that marked the border between normal space and what lay ahead swallowing them whole.

In his cockpit, Wedge noticed as he felt the entire room slightly shake from going through all the gases. He knew that the Briar Patch was not like any ordinary nebula; multiple differences in properties and composition had almost put it in a category of it’s own. Regardless of this, he knew that, no matter how shaky the ride was for him, to the Sovereign it was but a mere walk in the park to traverse through the clouds, albeit at a significantly reduced speed.

“Approaching the source of the distress call now.”  Announced R2-A3 from his docking socket at the back, snapping Wedge out of his thoughts. Through the window, he could only see maroon, as the sheer density of the Briar Patch clouded his visuals. Using his sensors however, he could tell that the Phoenix was in the dead centre of the formation, flanked by the Yarra and Murray on either side and the rest of the fighters flying ahead in a wedge formation. Ahead of them on the sensors lay a small dot, which kept on emitting waves outwards, that represented where the distress call was coming from.

_ “Showell to Phoenix.” _ Came through the intercom.

“Go ahead McCall.”

_ “Sir, the computer’s saying we should be seeing the Wellington now, but we’re not reading anything that could resemble a Niagara Class ship here.” _

“Are you sure about that?”

_ “Certainly sir. We’ve just checked in with Perkins and Waters as well, they both show negative.” _

“I’ll inform the Sovereign.” Wedge realigned the comm laser aboard his ship towards where the Sovereign was meant to be, before relaying the news of what happened to the Sovereign. Moments later, Trent’s voice broke through the intercom.

_ “Are you absolutely sure you can’t see anything?” _ asked Trent with a hint of worry in his voice.

“I’m in visual range now Captain. I’m not seeing anything here that could resemble a Niagara Class ship like the Wellington here.”

_ “Very well then. Contact your squad and tell them we’re leaving. We’re sending you a course out of here now.” _

Suddenly, the area where the Wellington’s distress call was coming from shimmered and rippled. The front edge of an Imperial Star Destroyer suddenly flashed into view, before continuing to build backwards until a Galaxy Class saucer section was seen attached to the central command area. The hull continued to grow, capping off at the end with two Galaxy Class Nacelles attached to pylons which lead back to where the Command Tower for a Star Destroyer would be.

Wedge stared out of his cockpit in awe and horror. It was real, he wasn’t seeing it through a computer display or simulation. The mere fact that it existed could only mean one thing; Thrawn was truly back.

“Captain, we may have a problem at the moment.”


	6. Found

#  Chapter 6: Found

**Engagement 10: Second Battle of the Briar Patch**  
  
---  
  
**United Federation of Planets**

| 

**Galactic Empire**  
  
Class: Sovereign

Ships present: 1

Known ships: USS Sovereign

Maximum combat speed: warp 9.985

Armament: 14 Type XII Phaser banks, 5 torpedo launchers, 250 photon torpedoes, 250 quantum torpedoes, (USS Sovereign has 200 quantum torpedoes, 50 Phased Plasma torpedoes)

Weapons firing arcs: Forward, Aft, Starboard, Port, Dorsal, Ventral

Auxiliary craft: 4 shuttlecraft, 2 Danube Class Runabouts, 6 McCall Class Fighters

| 

Class: Chimaera

Ships present: 1

Known ships: ISD Chimaera II

Maximum combat speed: Warp 9.9

Armament: 30 Turbolaser arrays, 5 missile launchers, 500 Antimatter Missiles, 30 unknown beam-based weapons

Weapons layout: Forward, Aft, Starboard, Port, Dorsal, Ventral

Auxiliary craft: 36 TIE Defenders, 2 Lambda class shuttles, 20 Troop Transports  
  
On the bridge of the USS Sovereign, Captain Trent and his crew were mesmerised as the sight of the ISD Chimaera II in front of them. It was the real deal this time; not what they had seen through the eyes of the USS Exeter, but the actual ship, right in front of them. A chill ran down Trent’s spine as he realised they had fallen for a trap.

“Evasive maneuvers!” he cried as the ship was suddenly rocked with the impact of at least a dozen beams against the shields. He was thrown back into his command chair, gripping for dear life against the armrests as the ship narrowly missed the next round of beams.

“Captain, shields at 74%.” announced Th’etonnor.

“Load Phased Plasma torpedoes and ready phasers.” ordered Trent.

“Phasers locked. We’ve got 4 Phased Plasma torpedoes in the tubes.”

“Fire!”

A steady stream of nadion particles erupted from the Sovereign’s upper phaser array, hitting the Chimaera square on it’s forward shields. The impact created a bluish hue over the hull of the Chimaera, but otherwise the ship was undamaged. The Chimaera continued to move forwards, oblivious to the fact it had just been hit.

Almost simultaneously, a full spread of 4 Phased Plasma torpedoes were ejected from the Sovereign’s forward torpedo launchers. Unlike their counterparts, they moved slowly through the space around them, so slowly that the Chimaera began to fire antimatter missiles at them. They managed to stop 3 torpedoes from getting by, but the first one slipped past their defence, erupting in a ball of fire against the hull of the Chimaera. The explosion left a hole in the side of the main hull, at least 20 metres across, that was now spewing out smoke and the bodies of unsuspecting crewmen.

A few cheers erupted from crewmen across the bridge, before Trent hushed them.

“We may have bruised them slightly, but we haven’t done anything of significance to her systems.” he coldly stated, setting the mood on the bridge back to what it was before. “Hawk, engage attack pattern Delta 4-7. Th’etonnor, switch back to Quantum Torpedoes, I want to hit ‘em with something that doesn’t take an age and a half to get there. Order our fighter escorts to get rid of those TIE Defenders and try and do something against the Chimaera’s shields.”

As the Sovereign continued to turn and weave through the Chimaera’s fire, the Phoenix and it’s counterparts were busy dealing with the TIE Defenders that were attempting to engage the Sovereign. In the rapid blasts of phaser cannons and Micro torpedoes, several were cut down, the sheer volume of firepower overwhelming them individually, before the rest opened fire with their laser cannons, weakening the shields of the McCalls as they responded once again in kind. The whole situation dissolved into a mad free for all, with fighters from both sides engaged in dogfights with each other.

On the Phoenix, Wedge gritted his teeth as he turned the Phoenix on a dime into a firing position behind a Defender. Then, without further adieu, R2-A3 fired the ship’s phaser cannons, obliterating the Defender’s engines and sending it spiraling into a small cloud of Metreon gas. The flames from the engines tasted the gas, and within a matter of seconds the entire fighter was consumed in a ball of fire.

He turned his attention to a pair of Defenders that were harassing the fighter Perkins. With a swift series of command inputs, he managed to pilot the ship so that it would only go slightly over the Perkins, whilst at the same time giving his own phaser cannons as shot at the TIEs. As the Perkins moved below the Phoenix to avoid getting caught in the crossfire, the Phoenix fired it’s phaser cannons again, shearing off the wing of one of the Defenders and destroying the cockpit of the other. Both ships flailed into the distance as Wedge pulled the Phoenix up beside the Perkins to inspect the damage. 

There were scorch marks across the entire port side of the ship, one even partially blackening the name on that side of the ship. The port impulse engine was also flickering between on and off states, signifying to Wedge that the Perkins had been caught off guard. He studies the ship further for a moment, before moving to check the current stats of his ship.

His own shields were at 48%, his phaser cannons were currently recharging at 10% a minute and he had roughly 30 minutes of main power left at the rate he was chewing up the batteries. The computer said the reactor was currently not recharging the batteries, and was instead focusing on increasing power to the engines in order to grant him extra maneuverability. He quickly shifted power back to recharging the batteries before rejoining the fight alongside the Perkins.

As the fight continued for fighter superiority, the Sovereign battled hard against the Chimaera II. A single Quantum torpedo burst into a full spread of Quantum torpedoes as the ship’s dorsal shields were skimmed by a pair of the Chimaera’s turbolaser beams. The torpedoes exploded against the Chimaera’s shields, doing little damage as both ships continued pressing their attack.

On the bridge of the Sovereign, Captain Trent steadied himself as the ship rocked from another hit. He had prepared himself and the ship for a fight, but nothing of this intensity. No matter how many hits they landed on the Chimaera’s shields, they held firm, never letting off.

Another hit rocked the ship as alarms blared across the bridge. 

“We are losing our starboard shields.” announced Th’etonnor as a shower of sparks rained down on the wall behind him. 

“This ship is impossible!” Remarked Hawk. “The amount of firepower we’ve flung at their shields so far would have destroyed a normal Star Destroyer’s shields by now!”

“Remember that this isn’t a normal Star Destroyer Lieutenant.” reminded Aldrin as she held onto her console.

“Fall back!” ordered Trent. “Have our fighters escort us out of here and plot a course deeper into the Patch. It’s time to see just how fast we can push this thing.”

The Sovereign made a quick swerve away from the Chimaera as the fighters began to disengage from their own individual fights. As the Sovereign withdrew from the battle scene, the Chimaera managed to get off a round of antimatter missiles at the Sovereign, most getting cleaned up by the ship’s phasers but two slamming into the exposed Starboard Nacelle. The rear housing of the Nacelle exploded in a huge explosion, carving out the blue plasma containment area and causing a plasma trail to begin to leak from the remains. The accompanying bussard collector lost it’s colour as the entire circuitry for the nacelle began to fail.

In response, the Sovereign fired a full spread of 8 Phased Plasma torpedoes at the Chimaera, most of which were cleaned up before 3 of them met their target, smashing into the ship’s port nacelle, saucer section and nose. The port nacelle lost all colour as gaping holes blew out air, fire and crewmen out of the ship. Before the Chimaera could reply, the Sovereign disappeared into the swirling masses of red gas, obscuring the gunnery crews ability to accurately target the ship.

Aboard the bridge of the Chimaera, Thrawn watched as the Sovereign withdrew from the battlezone along with it’s escorts. He briefly thought about following them deeper into the Briar Patch, before deciding against it; it was not worth being lured into a potential counter trap. Instead, he continued to stand silently on the bridge, waiting for something to happen.

“Admiral, are we not going to pursue them?” asked Odan as he walked up to Thrawn.

“No, we will not.” answered Thrawn. Thinking more deeply, he replied.

“That was only a test of their capabilities for both sides. They were more or less testing what we were capable of just as much as we were testing them.”

“But how, Admiral?”

“Simple. They tried both their Quantum torpedoes as well as their strange new slow moving torpedoes. While they move slow enough for them to be targeted and destroyed, they seem to phase straight through our shields and impact on the hull instead. And while their quantum torpedoes were quite powerful, our new shield system was more than capable of handling it. I don’t see why they don’t use it, despite the fact that they already possessed the technology.”   
“So what will we do now?” 

“We will count our losses and form a new plan of attack against them, using the information we have now. We did manage to cripple them, as their warp drive is now disabled. There is no escape for them. I expect a full damage report in an hour.”

Thrawn turned and walked back towards the door adjoining the bridge to his personal study.

“If you require me further I will be in my study.” he stated as he keyed the access code into the door panel and walked through. The doors sealed shut behind him as he glimpsed Odan walking towards another officer out of the corner of his eye.

He flicked on the room lights to illuminate his study. It was very sparse, with dark grey walls dimly lit up by floor lights and a combined holo display and desk facing towards the door. He did not need the holo display for what he intended on doing, and it was what was inside his desk he intended on studying at that moment.

He picked up the Starfleet PADD that lay inside the drawer of his desk, badly burnt and damaged but still functional. It had been recovered from the wreck of the Arizona, before it had been fully destroyed close to the classified research centre where he was reborn. While Starfleet encryption techniques were quite advanced compared to the Empire, it was still no match to brute force unlocking, which eventually allowed them to gain access which for all intents and purposes appeared to be Captain Trent’s own PADD.

_ Now what secrets do you have Captain Trent? _ He thought to himself as he began to delve deeper into Trents personal files.  _ Now this is interesting… _

“How close are we to the border?” asked Vader as he walked calmly onto the bridge. It had been several hours since they had set off from Archanis station for the Federation without waiting for Thrawn to send the all clear signal. For too long he had waited for Thrawn to play his games with the Federation; it was clear to him that the path to victory was action, not playing cat and mouse.

“We’re just about to crossover into Federation space now sir.” reported an officer. “What systems shall we hit first?”

“Our group’s first targets shall be the Rigel and Brentalia systems.” began Vader as he brought up the nearby display monitor. “We will then move towards the Janus and Deneva systems, before rendezvousing with the rest of the fleet in the Sol system. The destruction of their capital will cause the entire Federation to fold on us.”

“But what about what Grand Admiral Thrawn and what he said abou-”

The officer suddenly began to feel a strange force around his neck. Before he knew it, it shut down his windpipe, leaving him clutching at his throat as he suddenly flew through the air. His neck slammed into Vader’s outstretched hand, which began gripping him firmly.

“Grand Admiral Thrawn is nothing but a nuisance to this campaign! He talks of waiting for the enemy to make mistakes, carefully planned strikes, playing a cat and mouse game like there’s isn’t a worry in the world, but here’s what I have to say about it; it’s all nonsense! The only true way to win a war is through action, and without action, there is no war! Is that understood?!”

The officer could only manage a weak nod before Vader threw him back on the floor, desperately gasping for air as he feebly crawled away from the masked monstrosity.

“Now plot us a course to the Rigel system immediately.”

Before the officer could reply, a bright light suddenly shone through the bridge windows, blinding everyone as the entire ship began to shake. The ship suddenly fell out of hyperspace, and into the unknown reality of real space. Within moments, the other ships in Vaders task force experienced the same phenomena, before mysteriously dropping out of hyperspace, unaware of what lay in wait for them in real space.


	7. Damage Control

#  Chapter 7: Damage Control

The USS Sovereign weakly limped out of the limiting scenario of the clouds and into what appeared to be a safe haven in the form of the planet Ba’ku. The planet of Ba’ku itself was under the official protection of the Federation, as a reserve for the pre-warp Ba’ku people. In orbit of the planet, a small-scale observation outpost had been constructed, in order to monitor the planet for any changes on the surface. It had been months however, since this outpost had been manned.

When the war began to turn dramatically against the Federation, the outpost’s functions were automated and the Starfleet crew were sent away to other more necessary postings. They hadn’t packed up everything though; there was still the Station’s Talon Class scout vessel, the USS Talon, left behind in the hopes that the station would once again be used for it’s original purpose. In the months since, the outpost had sat in silence, continuously scanning the surface of the planet and sending back any interesting or unusual data back to the closest fully manned Starbase nearby, Starbase 47.

In the ship’s observation lounge, Captain Trent sat in silence as he awaited what his crew had to say.

“Why don’t we start with the damage reports.” began Trent. “T’pon?”

“Yes Captain.” replied T’pon. “As most of you are well aware by now, our starboard nacelle is completely destroyed. We have no facilities onboard that will allow us to repair it, and the only option I see is a complete swap out at a starbase. Until we can find some way of repairing it, the warp drive is indefinitely offline. We also have damage to the aft torpedo bay as well from the burst of phased plasma torpedoes we fired before we left, however the damage there is repairable.”

“What about shields, are those all good?” Inquired Aldrin.

“Our regenerative shield system coped well under the fire from the Chimaera. The Starboard shields failed due to a power surge in our EPS conduits, as a consequence of attempting to devote too much power to that grid system. I can swap out the affected conduits, but it will require extensive work. I estimate a repair time of approximately 2 hours.”   
“Captain, if it took us an hour to get here at ⅔rd impulse power, the at ⅓rd impulse power the Chimaera will be here in 2 as well.” remarked Hawk.

“Focus your repairs on the aft torpedo bay and the starboard shield grid.” ordered Trent. “Lieutenant Antilles, what’s our fighter status?”

“The Perkins, Mason and Caldwell suffered varying levels of damage to their engines and hull. The USS Yarra had it’s micro-torpedo launcher blasted off, and is in the process of being repaired as we speak. I can have the Mason and Caldwell ready by the time the Chimaera manages to find us, but not the Perkins or the Yarra.”

“Doc, what about casualties?”

“We currently have at least 53 casualties, 15 of which are fatal. All fatal casualties come from a single incident on deck 19 when the plasma flow to the starboard nacelle erupted and destroyed an entire corridor. The rest mainly consist of various burns and body traumas from the battle.”

“Now Horan, what was it you wanted to say about their ship?”

“Well, I’ve completed my analysis of their ship’s abilities based on our encounter with them.” began Horan as he walked up beside the display. He displayed a continuously moving schematic of the Chimaera, complete with all the ship’s weapons points and shield coverage.

“Commander Rios was right when he said that their turbolaser arrays have the same power as a turbolaser cannon at close range. Based on my scans of the ship, their new arrays have a minimum effective distance of up to 300,000 Kilometres, similar to our phasers. I also found an additional 30 weapons placements for some sort of beam weapon, but I couldn’t get any good readings of it while we were in combat. Their antimatter missiles are also quite powerful, and one of them is comparable to one of our photon torpedoes.”   
“If they’re comparable to a photon torpedo then why not call it one?” asked Dolovain.

“While they have the same firepower as a torpedo, they do not work like one. We call them missiles because they work just like one; there’s a small chemical rocket attached to the rear for propulsion, instead of a warp field propelling the torpedo to the target. While they are slow compared to a torpedo, they’re still much faster than our phased plasma torpedoes, which is what allowed them to effectively target and destroy them. However, the excess of chemical energy emitted by the missiles will allow our computer to target and destroy them.”

“You also said you found something interesting about their shields.” reminded Trent.

“I was getting to that.” stated Horan as he switched the display to that of the Chimaera’s shields overlaying the ship in a bubble.

“When the ship is not under attack, the shields are distributed evenly across all areas in a single layer. However, when the ship registers a hit on one of the shield areas, it adds several layers of shielding to the area that is under attack by taking a layer away from areas which are not under attack. It’s very similar to the experimental Fractal Lattice shielding from the 23rd century.”

“Wasn’t that withdrawn from Starfleet ships after it was found that multi-vector attacks could cause the entire system to collapse?” asked Aldrin.

“Exactly. We could attack the ship from multiple vectors and overload their shield systems.”

“The question is, how do we create a multi vector attack with one ship?” Reminded Trent. “We’ve got our fighters, but they’ll be busy dealing with their ones.”

“We’ve still got the USS Talon over by the observation post.” proposed Hawk. “She’s fast, maneuverable and can pack a punch if necessary.”

“While it may seem like a viable option, we must remember that the Talon is classified as a scout ship.” argued Th’etonnor. “She by no means has the armament to engage anything larger than an Arquintens Class Light Cruiser.”

“We could separate the saucer.” suggested Aldrin. “The Stardrive can use it’s RCS thrusters as a means of propulsion. If it needs to get somewhere in a hurry, it can grab onto the saucer and get towed to where it needs to go.”

“Excellent suggestions you two.” commented Trent. “We’ll use both. Mr T’pon, please proceed with your repair efforts. Lieutenant Antilles, get your fighters ready as soon as possible. Doc, get as many crewmembers as you can back on their feet and prepare mobile medic teams for further casualties. Commander Th’etonnor, you are to coordinate with Lieutenant Horan on possible assault plans. Ms Hawk, please take an away team to the observation post and assess the USS Talon. I want progress reports from all of you hourly. You’re all dismissed.”

With that, the room began to clear out. Chairs were pulled out of their places as officers moved towards the door. Within moments, the room was empty. All save for the two highest ranking officers aboard.

“I can tell you’re uncomfortable.” noted Aldrin as she looked down on Trent. He was attempting to busy himself with his PADD in order to divert her attention away from him at the moment.

“I’m fine.” replied Trent as he briefly glanced up at her. She wasn’t letting up.

“What’s bothering you?” asked Aldrin with a hint of impatience in her voice. “We’ve only got two hours.”

“Alright then. I’ll tell you how I feel.” Trent put down his PADD and looked back up at Aldrin. “I’m scared. That’s basically it. Scared about facing Thrawn again. From the rebel files, he’s one of the most dangerous opponents we could have ever come up against, and not just because he’s got an aura of grandeur that surrounds him. He’s clever, he thinks 3 steps ahead of everyone and now he’s got the most tactically useful ship in the war up his sleeve. In all honesty, I’m not sure we’ll make it past this one Miral.”

“Oh come on. That’s bulls##t, especially from you. You don’t back away from a challenge, you tackle it head on. You’re always quick to try and pick apart your enemies, and you do it by comparing your morals to theirs. How come all of a sudden you want to be Trent the ordinary, cowering away from the problem instead of standing against it like you normally do.”

“Well how would you do this then?”

“Well, is there anything we could possibly use physically against this Thrawn? After all, he’s not based on Thrawn himself, he’s based on his clone.”

Trent thought for a moment. There was a potential way for them to defeat Thrawn, but he wasn’t sure whether it would work, given the amount of time he had potentially been in existence. That was why he hadn’t considered it earlier.

_ I guess there’s only one way to find out for certain. _ He thought to himself before he answered. “There may be one way.”

Odan walked into Thrawn’s office, finding him in the midst of looking at the profiles of several Starfleet officers up by the rightmost corner of the room. Their images shone brightly in contrast to the stark darkness of that region of the room, the area itself bathed in a sheet of black. The only other thing which could be seen there was Thrawn, still in his full Grand Admiral’s uniform, in a thoughtful pose.

“Ah, Commander, please come in.” greeted Thrawn. “Do you have the reports?”

“Yes I do.” answered Odan as he looked down at the files he had below him. “All in all we suffered a total of 3 hull breaches and a plasma leak in the port nacelle. We lost a total of 16 TIEs in battle with the Sovereign’s fighter, and 10 of them are currently serviceable. We suffered 65 casualties, 36 resulting in deaths. Deaths mainly occurred due to outer hull breaches and TIE pilot deaths.”

“And what about the analysis of their ship?” 

“It appears to be a standard Sovereign Class ship, save for those new torpedoes they fired at us. They look like a Romulan Plasma Torpedo, except they seem to partially phase past our shields and cause damage to the hull. However, they move too slowly to be combat effective in this scenario.”

“Interesting. If the Federation is attempting to deploy these weapons, it could be in a move to equip it’s fleet with phasing-based torpedoes, such as Transphasic Torpedoes.”

“Transphasic torpedoes? They haven’t been seen since the Battle of Sol.”

“One must not say that something is truly gone until they can confirm it. It is only a theory at this point anyhow.”

“What were you studying here?” Asked Odan.

“I was studying the personnel files of the bridge crew of the USS Sovereign, which just so happens to be the same bridge crew of the USS Arizona. I found them on this PADD which used to belong to Captain Trent in his time on the Arizona.”

Thrawn flicked all the files on the wall away so that only one could be viewed at a time, on the wall at that moment was that of a seemingly mid 20’s human female, with short reddish brown hair and a Command uniform.

“Lieutenant Sabrina Hawk.” listed Thrawn as he gestured to her. “Primary flight controller and head of Operations. An excellent pilot, just like her brother. However, her hot-headed nature can lead to conflict with her senior officers.”

Thrawn swiped across, and her file was replaced by that of a human male. He looked to be a similar age to Lieutenant Hawk, but instead wore a science variant uniform and had black hair.

“Lieutenant Jason Horan. Chief science officer. Very book smart, but he’s so shy that he struggles to cope when under pressure.”

The next file he swiped across to was that of a dark-skinned Vulcan male. He bore a stern look on his face and wore an operations uniform.

“Lieutenant Commander T’pon. Chief Engineer. He knows everything there is to know in engineering, but his stern Vulcan attitude leads to friction between him and others underneath him.”

The profile then swiped across again to an older Andorian officer. Just like T’pon, he had a more serious look on his face, and had an operations uniform on as well.

“Lieutenant Commander Th’etonnor. Chief of Security and Second Officer. A fine tactical officer, but he often charges into action too soon.”

The profile after his was that of another human female. She had a look of formality on her face, with long, flowing black hair and a Command uniform.

“Commander Miral Aldrin. First Officer. Very thoughtful in her actions, but she can let her emotions blind her from a truth that is directly in front of her.”

The final file was that of a man who everyone across the Empire was familiar with now, through propaganda films or in battle.

“Captain Darius Trent. Captain of the USS Arizona from 2373 to 2380. Took command of the USS Sovereign in 2381. He is a skilled starship captain and battlefield commander, having taught engineering and starship combat tactics at Starfleet Academy. However, according to a review from Admiral Picard, he is quick to question where he went wrong before he asks where others went wrong.”

“You’ve spent the last hour evaluating the crew of the Sovereign so you could pick at their weaknesses.” figured Odan. “So how can we play this to our advantage?”

“It appears that this crew, when working together, is able to overcome their weaknesses. However, when they are isolated, they will revert back to their old selves. Therefore, when we next engage them, we must attempt to create a wedge in between them all.”

“I see. I’ll prepare the crew for a combat scenario with the Sovereign.” Odan began to turn and walk out the door, before realising he had forgotten to ask THrawn about something.

“Oh, and one more thing, why did you ask us to make those course corrections?”

“What?” impatiently asked Thrawn.

“About half an hour ago, you made us change course so that we would go away from the Sovereign’s trail. Our current course will mean we will reach the Sovereign in approximately 2 more hours instead of the 1 hour we had on our previous course. I fail to understand why you enacted it.”

“You don’t have to understand, Commander.” replied Thrawn in a slightly condescending tone. “Just obey.”

The response surprised Odan; he wasn’t used to having Thrawn speak to him in this way. Normally, there was a reason for everything that he did, no matter what it was, whether it be ordering a specific change to the ship’s functions or even changing the bridge crew. Now however, he seemed unwilling to provide a reason for one of the most important things to them at that moment, a seemingly insignificant course change that would cost them more than an extra hour to reach the Sovereign.

But then, that was the case with everyone in command in the Imperial Navy wasn’t it? They had ultimate, unquestioned control over their ships and crew, and could do anything they wanted on a whim. Hell, Thrawn could’ve simply fired upon every single cloud of gas in the Briar Patch if he wanted to and no one would have asked a thing. Accepting that Thrawn was just exercising his power over the crew, he continued to walk out the door, leaving Thrawn staring at the wall as he was before.

“Talon to Sovereign, I’m good to go.” stated Hawk as she finished the power up sequence of the USS Talon. The tiny ship’s engines revved behind her as she began undocking the ship from the observation outpost. “Undocking now.”

_ “Good.”  _ Replied Trent through the intercom.  _ “Standby to enter formation.” _

The Talon pulled away from the outpost, maneuvering out of the small docking area at the front and following a parallel course on the port side of the Sovereign. On the starboard side were the ship’s remaining service-ready fighters, consisting of only the Danube Class USS Murray and the Mcall Classes Phoenix, Mason, Caldwell, Showell and Waters. The group of fighters were collectively enough to be considered a single vector in this 4 vectored attack.

With a heavy series of thumping, the saucer section of the Sovereign disconnected from the stardrive. The saucer drifted laterally away momentarily, before the independent power systems aboard kicked in, reactivating the impulse engines and leaving the saucer fully capable of independent action. Moving a short distance away from the stardrive, the saucer locked it in a tractor beam, before moving at all best speed into the thick clouds of the Briar Patch.

Without a moment to lose, Hawk accelerated alongside the saucer section, pushing the ship at worst 50 meters away from the hull. Her control panel screamed that the ship had entered a gas dense area and should pull out immediately, but Hawk ignored the warnings like they were nothing. This ship may have been specially retrofitted to work in this environment, but her software hadn’t been updated in the process.

_ I’ll have to do something about that later. _ Hawk thought as she swerved to avoid a cloud of metreon gas the size of a small meteor. She couldn’t take any chances of igniting the highly combustible gas. Not yet anyway.

Their plan was relatively straightforward; on it’s current course, the Chimaera would be passing through a region of the Briar Patch which was thick with metreon gas. When the Chimaera passed through a sufficiently large enough cloud of gas, they would detonate the cloud, severely straining their shields from all angles, before enacting a four vectored attack plan with the saucer, stardrive, fighters and Talon each attacking with different attack patterns and methods. The ultimate goal of course was the destruction of the Chimaera, so that there was no escape for Grand Admiral Thrawn or anyone who was like him.

Her console suddenly lit up with a communique from Commander Aldrin aboard the Stardrive. It had been decided earlier that Trent should take command of the saucer, as it would allow him a better chance of survivability since it had the impulse engines of the ship attached to it.

_ “Stardrive to Talon, come in Talon.” _

“Talon here.”

_ “We have the target in our sights. Target does not appear to be aware of our presence as of this moment.” _

“Understood Stardrive. Awaiting orders from Saucer to attack.”

_ “Keep it up Talon. Stardrive out.” _

Another message popped up on her display, this time from Captain Trent aboard the saucer. It was a fleet-wide broadcast, so Hawk decided to listen to it.

_ “All vessels, this is Captain Trent. I know that to most of you, I’m a complete stranger. After all, this was never my ship originally; it was Captain Leres’. Nevertheless, Starfleet has given us a job to do, and we are expected to follow through with that regardless of who is in command. Fighter crews, you’ve flown with Lieutenant Antilles for the past 4 months, both in training scenarios and in real combat. I expect that you will fight as a cohesive force. Lieutenant Hawk, you’re the best helmsman in the sector. Don’t forget it. Those on the Stardrive, you must follow the direction of Commander Aldrin. She’s one of the finest first officers in the fleet, and she did a great job of leading you when Captain Leres was KIA. As for those on the saucer, we’ll be pressed hard to coordinate with the other vessels and keep them off our backs, but I know we’ll manage just fine. You all have your roles. Trent out.” _

_ Here goes nothing. _ Thought Hawk as she charged headlong into the situation, full of determination and a sense of purpose.


	8. Battle in the Patch

#  Chapter 8: Battle in the Patch

**Reinforcements**  
  
---  
  
**United Federation of Planets**

| 

**Galactic Empire**  
  
Class: Talon

Ships present: 1

Known ships: USS Talon

Maximum combat speed: warp 5

Armament: 4 Type V Phaser Banks, 2 Pulse Phaser Cannons, 3 Microtorpedo Launchers, 50 Microtorpedoes

Weapons firing arcs: Forward, Aft, Starboard, Port, Dorsal, Ventral

Auxiliary craft: None

|   
  
On the bridge of the Chimaera, Odan was in the midst of checking with the ship’s scanner officer when the entire vessel suddenly shook violently. Outside, a massive explosion had engulfed the ship, and while the shields had taken the brunt of the effects, they were surely extremely drained by now. An alarm klaxon blared across the entire ship now, with crewmen and troopers alike rushing to their stations.

“Report.” Ordered Thrawn as he came out of his study. His usual calm manner was seemingly out of place in this high pressure scenario.

“A massive explosion of Metreon gas just engulfed the ship.” reported Odan. “The shields managed to keep it from reaching the hull but now they’re severely drained at all angles.”

“Admiral, 3 ship-sized contacts off the port bow. Also reading an additional 5 fighter-sized contacts from the same vector.”

“Tactical display.” calmly requested Thrawn. “Let’s see what we’re dealing with here.”

The viewscreen changed from the view of the Briar Patch outside to that of a small map of the area. The Chimaera was in the dead centre, with three large contacts coming in from the port side and 5 smaller contacts from the same area. Their images changed as the computer managed to register what type of craft they were.

“It looks like we’ve got a separated Sovereign Class and a Talon Class scout.” remarked Odan. “The smaller contacts consist of 4 McCall Class fighters and a Danube Class Runabout.”

“No doubt the Sovereign Class is the USS Sovereign.” added Thrawn. “The other ship must be from the observation outpost in orbit of Ba’ku.”

The saucer and stardrive of the Sovereign charged head alongside the Talon Class scout next to it. Then, without warning, all three separate parts burst apart from each other in different directions and began to swarm the Chimaera. The fighters joined in the attack as their own individual unit, and all 4 units began firing on the Chimaera from separate angles.

The bridge shook with each hit as officers and crewmen alike grabbed onto the railings for dear life. A console exploded in the trench below, sending the unfortunate officer flying into the wall. Throughout all this Thrawn stood carefully in thought steadying himself on the handrail if necessary.

“Admiral, we’ve lost shields on the dorsal-starboard and ventral-port vectors.” announced an officer as he read the console readout.

“It appears they have figured out the weakness in our shield unit.” figured Thrawn. “Lower shields and divert their power to the hybrids.”

“But Admiral, why are we opening ourselves up to attack?” Asked Odan.

“There is no point in having them up if all they will do is fail and render the energy powering them wasted.” explained Thrawn. “Our armour can take their hits long enough for us to take care of them.”

“Sir, shield power has been fully diverted to the hybrid weapons.” announced an officer working below in the trench.

“Bring us to a full stop. Prepare to start jamming their communications and await my order to fire.” Thrawn turned to Odan and glared into his eyes. “Do you see what is happening here?”

“Stopping the ship allows us to better target their vessels, but jamming their communications has never had any effect on their ability to fight.” Analysed Odan. “They’re not going to fall for something that simple.”

“On the contrary Commander, not only will they fall for it,” rebutted Thrawn, “they’ll be utterly torn apart by it.”

“Stay on course.” ordered Trent as the saucer section lurched into another sweeping maneuver around the Chimaera. With alarming accuracy, the saucer’s phasers lashed out against the unshielded hull of the Chimaera, creating dark scars across the once-pristine hull. On the viewscreen, the stardrive section fired 3 Quantum Torpedoes into the opposite side of the Chimaera, starting massive explosions that ripped holes in the side of the ship.

“Sir, Lieutenant Hawk is hailing us.” announced the officer manning the weapons console in Th’etonnor’s place while he was aboard the stardrive.

“Put her through.”

_ “Sir, are you seeing this?” _ came through the intercom.

“We can see exactly what you can, Lieutenant. Their shields are down.”

_ “Now’s the time to move in for the kill, right?” _

“Not necessarily. Continue with swarm tactics and await further orders.”

_ “But Captain-” _

“No buts Lieutenant. If we give this thing even a chance to get off a good shot at us, it could cause significant damage, and with your ship it could destroy it in one shot. Continue to fire at their weapons placements until further notice. Is that clear?”

_ “Yes s-.” _ was all Hawk could get out before she was cut off by static.

“Lieutenant? You’re breaking up. Lieutenant!”

“We’re being jammed, Captain.” reported the tactical officer.

“Captain, they’re powering up another set of weapons.” announced Horan.

“Of what kind?” 

“I don’t know sir. They appear to be from those placements I told you I couldn’t get a read of last time.”

“Well, what are the weapons in these emplacements?”

“It looks like a graviton emitter in a configuration similar to a tractor beam. But I’m also reading a huge surge in some form of unknown energy.”

“Sir, the Talon is breaking off from our attack pattern!” exclaimed the tactical officer.

“What?!” exclaimed Trent. “She wouldn’t!”

“Captain, they’re about to fire!” announced the tactical officer.

Just as the Talon fired it’s phaser cannons, a continuous blue beam struck the runabout-sized vessel square on it’s nacelle. Caught in the hybrid tractor beam, the Talon was helpless as the beam continuously drained power from the ship. Within moments, the Talon’s warp nacelles powered down as the cockpit lights began flickering on and off.

“Evasive maneuvers! Divert all available power to the engines and try to evade those beams!”

“Captain, they’re about to fire from another array that’s got us in their firing arc!”

“Hold on!” cried Trent just before hell broke loose.

A continuous blue beam lashed forth from the Chimaera’s saucer, striking the Saucer and holding it in place. The impulse engines flared as brightly as they could in a desperate attempt to break free of the beams, but it wasn’t long before the ship lost the energy to even power them. With that, the rest of the ship’s light flickered on and off as blue electricity coursed along the hull.

“Report!” demanded Trent as the ship’s systems flickered on and off.

“They’re converting our energy plasma into low energy ions through the shield grid.” announced Horan as he hurriedly pressed his console. “We’re losing power across all systems. Phasers and impulse engines are offline. I estimate at this rate we will lose all power in approximately half an hour.”

“Do we still have sensors?”

“I’ve got sensors but nothing else. The Stardrive has not been caught yet...correction, the Stardrive has been caught now.”

Trent held his head in shame as he watched all his hard work fall apart around him. He began to wonder how he couldn’t have foreseen this sort of outcome at all...before a thought popped into his mind that made him realise everything.

“This is his plan...oh my god why didn’t I see this earlier?”

“See what sir?” asked Horan out of curiosity.

“He jammed us so that we couldn’t communicate with each other.” explained Trent. “By doing that he removed the one thing that allows us to work together as a team. He knew that we would have to spread ourselves out in order to attack them the way we did, all he had to do was tear us apart and nothing would be able to stand in his way.”

“Well what do we do now?” asked Horan, fear evidently beginning to consume him.

“All that’s left to do is sit, wait,” listed Trent, “and hope that Commander Aldrin remembered plan B.”

“Move along people, that was only a minor patrol.” ordered Aldrin as she, Th’etonnor and a dozen other security officers sprinted past the corpses of a trio of Stormtroopers they had encountered in the hallway. Their limp bodies lay lifeless on the floor as the fast footsteps of the Starfleet officers moved away from them.

Aldrin took a position behind the corner to the next hallway. Looking around briefly, she took note of what lay beyond; 4 stormtroopers and 3 officers exiting what appeared to be a turbolift. Gesturing to the others to get into position, she set her phaser rifle to a wide dispersal setting before rolling into the next corridor and opening fire.

The officers barely had time to react before they fell to the floor from the blast. Their stormtrooper counterparts, less affected due to their armour, managed to spin around quickly and get off a few shots at the attackers before being cut down by kill-level phaser bolts. Their bodies collapsed to the ground as the remaining security officers quickly overtook the area, checking the nearby access points for any more attackers.

“Th’etonnor, you take your men to engineering and try to find some way of disabling the hybrid tractor beams.” instructed Aldrin as she set her rifle back to pulse mode. “The rest of you are with me to take the bridge. We can try to take control of the ship from there and force their surrender. Set phasers to kill so you can penetrate the Stormtrooper armour. Now let’s move, we don’t have a lot of time!”

The moderately sized group split into two as each went into a seperate turbolift. Keying in what appeared to be the command deck, the turbolift began silently whirring along to it’s destination, taking it’s occupants with it.

“What’s that you got there Lieutenant?” asked Aldrin as she looked at the contents of an engineering Lieutenant’s buckle.

“It’s one of the new experimental personal shields.” he replied. “They work in a similar fashion to the shields on most starships, except it’s all been miniaturized. The folks back at Command say it can absorb any kind of hit from any energy weapon and you won’t feel anything.”

“And why haven’t I heard of these being given out before given that we’re in a war?”

“W-well, I’m not actually meant to have these right now. These are some of the early prototypes a friend of mine sent me to have a look at. I figured that as I was assigned to this boarding party-”

“You could test these out in the field.” finished Aldrin. “Hand one over please.”

Fumbling with his belt, the Lieutenant handed Aldrin a personal shield emitter, Aldrin studying the peculiar device. It was a small tricorder shaped block of metal, with a series of knobs and switches on the top. Dropping it on her belt, she found it magnetically clasped to her side, just like a phaser holster. The emitter instantly turned on, temporarily bathing her in a bluish glow before fading away.

“Nice.” she commented. “How long do these things last in extended combat?”

“They haven’t conducted those tests yet, but it can take an extended level 10 phaser blast for 15 seconds. It also regenerates by 10% every 3 seconds, but they’re still having some troubles with overload issues.”

“Well then, it would be best to use these only when necessary then.”

The gradual slowing of the turbolift signalled that they were approaching their destination. With several silent nods and gestures, the team took position on the sides of the turbolift, with Aldrin taking a central position in front of the doors, taking advantage of her new personal shield. The turbolift slowed to a stop and opened to the world beyond, letting loose the fury storm of the Starfleet officers.

By the time they got through the door, half the corridor was dead or dying on the floor. All around, stormtroopers and officers alike scrambled for cover, some managing to take positions in side corridors or getting hit before they could. The Starfleet group also took position in the corridor, with Aldrin standing in the open shooting anything in front of her that moved.

A blaster bolt slammed into her right shoulder, giving her only a minor recoil as she proceeded to vapourise the officer who had fired at her. Behind her, a security officer fell dead on the floor as he was hit by a blaster bolt too, splaying out on the floor with a black mark on his chest. The team medic attempted to retrieve him for treatment but she too was hit by a blaster bolt and sent straight to the cold, hard floor. Setting her phaser to cutting mode, Aldrin quickly cut through a wall into a room that several troopers had been using for cover, followed by their screams of agony as their bodies were cut in half. With most of the resistance in the corridor gone, the team charged deeper into the corridor, looking for anything that resembled the way to the bridge.

The group, now cut down to 4, came across a large, thick doorway that evidently led to the bridge. With a silent nod, the Engineering Lieutenant set up a small spatial charge by the door and rigged it for a remote detonation. The group moved a safe distance away from the door, before the Lieutenant pressed the detonate button on his PADD.

The door blasted inwards, sending chunks of debris into the bridge beyond. Once the smoke had cleared, a nice, 1 metre wide hole was left behind, intersecting the middle of the door and giving Aldrin and her team a way into the bridge.

With a cautious haste, Aldrin and the others crawled through the hole before doing a quick perimeter sweep of the bridge. It appeared to be empty for the moment being, with stations, consoles and chairs abandoned in a seemingly panicked state. Lowering her rifle, Aldrin relaxed herself; this was looking to be easy.

“Alright. You two take guard outside the entrance. Lieutenant…”

“Wilhelm. Lieutenant Casey Wilhelm.”

“Lieutenant Wilhelm, you get to work on the ship's controls. I’ll go into Thrawn’s office and see if there are some overrides in there.”

The two security Lieutenants took positions outside the hole that had just been blasted while Wilhelm scurried over to a nearby console. Satisfied with the progress made so far, Aldrin turned away and walked towards the doors that led into Thrawn’s office. Activating a hand actuator which she attached to the panel, she slowly forced the door open, the solid metal door screaming against the frame.

Walking into the room, she raised her rifle up as she swept through the room. The rifle’s built-in light automatically turned on, giving her sight into the dark corners of the room. Once again finding the room deserted, she walked over to the desk to check it for anything she could use.

Suddenly, an unmistakable voice echoed through the room. One which Aldrin had only heard over comms before, but heard nonetheless. A chill ran down her spine as she heard the raspy, purposeful voice of Thrawn.

“You’ve done well to make it this far.” Echoed his voice from somewhere in the room. It seemed to come from everywhere, and Aldrin couldn’t tell whether it was a recording or the real deal.

“Where are you?” she demanded the darkness. “Hands where I can see them.”

“You may think you have the upper hand here,” continued Thrawn, “but you don’t.”

The sudden whirring of machinery and phaser fire outside was enough to catch Aldrin’s attention. Without thinking, she turned and rushed to the door to see what the matter was. What was outside was nothing short of a slaughter.

The two security officers were dead on the floor, black burn marks scorching their chests. Lieutenant Wilhelm was taking cover behind a conference table as two armed battle droids continuously fired at him. While he had survived longer than his security counterparts, it was unlikely he would survive any longer without help.

Rushing into the fray, Aldrin fired two phaser bolts at the droid closest to her. The Droid merely stumbled forward momentarily as it’s armour took the brunt of the hit, leaving a sizzling hole in it’s back. The two droids clambered around to face Aldrin, before spraying kill-level blaster bolts in her general area.

Two bolts hit her square in the chest as she tried to roll away from the fire. Hastily, she shot off another round of phaser bolts at the other droid, this time taking off it’s blaster arm. The droid continued to mindlessly walk forwards as Aldrin felt herself beginning to press against the railing.

Without warning, the two droids were hit by a small explosion from behind, sending them over Aldrin’s head and into the trench behind the railing. They slammed into the computer consoles below her, igniting in a shower of sparks and metal shrapnel before limply falling on the floor below. 

“Sorry Commander for the scare.” apologized Wilhelm. “My personal shield was about to overload, so I had to get rid of it somehow.”

“It’s alright Lieutenant.” replied Aldrin. “Did you manage to get access to their systems at least?”

“I couldn’t. They’ve redirected all controls to some sort of secondary bridge close to engineering. It appears the only person who can change them back is-”

“Grand Admiral Thrawn.” finished Aldrin. “We’d better check on the other team.”

Tapping her combadge with her right arm, Aldrin stated, “Aldrin to Th’etonnor, status update.”

_ “We’re facing heavy resistance from Imperial Stormtroopers and battle droids.”  _ replied Th’etonnor.  _ “I’ve lost 2 men and my engineer is injured.” _

“Have you had any luck with taking engineering yet?”

_ “We destroyed some circuitry that my engineer thinks connects the turbolaser arrays to the warp core, but we haven’t managed to turn off the hybrid tractor beams. He thinks they run on an isolated circuit that’s powered by a second reactor somewhere else in the ship.” _

“Th’etonnor, there is a secondary bridge closeby to your position. All command functions of the ship have been routed back there. I need you to take that bridge and disable the hybrids. Is that clear?”

Aldrin worryingly received no reply, instead only hearing static.

“Commander? Th’etonnor, do you copy?”

“I’m afraid Commander Th’etonnor is a bit...preoccupied at the moment.” stated a calm, raspy voice as the main bridge doors were forced open behind them. Out of them, a full squad of stormtroopers rushed forth and surrounded them, with Thrawn calmly walking in with a blaster in his hand. Their weapons trained in on the duo as their guns cocked into readiness.

Wilhelm barely had any time to reach for his holsted phaser pistol before a blaster bolt from a stormtrooper’s blaster sent him flying over the railing. He screamed momentarily before he met a horrible, sickening end when his skull met the cold, hard deck plating below. Lifeless, his body limply fell across from the remains of the battle droids.

Knowing that a fight would be a futile maneuver at this point, Aldrin simply dropped her rifle to the ground and detached her mobile emitter. Both items cluttered to the floor, the Stormtroopers not bothering to pick them up as they handcuffed her and moved her along.

_ “Move Federation scum.” _ demanded one as they jabbed her back with their blaster, causing her to stumble forwards and fall to her knees below Thrawn.

“At ease men.” calmed Thrawn. Turning his attention to Aldrin, a grin spread across his face as he continued. “Well, what do you have to say to me?”

Aldrin looked away from him with disgust, spitting at his feet.

“If that’s the way you want to play it then. Guards?”

With a sudden ferocity, Aldrin was raised up by her arm before a Stormtrooper sacked her in the face. Her jaw still sore, another kicked her in the gut, causing her to fall back onto the floor and hit her head. The Stormtroopers surrounded her as they inflicted multiple physical injuries upon her, not letting off until Thrawn gave the signal to stop.

By the time they pulled away from her, she was barely still awake. Blood gashed across her face from a cut on her forehead, and her left arm hung limp against her side. Her uniform lay torn and shredded across her body, showcasing several cuts and bruises she sustained in the abusive experience. Thrawn could only grin as he knelt down until they were face to face.

“I think it’s time we tried some of that Federation diplomacy you’re so fond of now don’t you?”

“Sir, we’re being hailed by the Chimaera.” announced the Tactical officer, causing Trent to snap out of his thoughts.

“Is it Commander Aldrin?” he asked with a hint of impatience.

“No sir. There’s no ID attached to the message.”

“Put it through.” what came was something he never expected.

It was Commander Aldrin alright. Bruised, battered and horribly abused alright, but it was still her. She appeared to be slipping in and out of consciousness as she managed a meagre  _ “Darius…” _ before she was thrown to the floor by an all too familiar person.

_ “Ahh, Captain Trent, so nice now that we’re speaking to one another.” _ Thrawn began.  _ “I must admit, you almost had us there at some points. But you don’t now.” _

“What do you want Thrawn?” demanded Trent, his teeth visibly gritted to Thrawn’s great enjoyment.

_ “Oh nothing too much really. Just the surrender of yourself and your vessel.” _

“I’m sorry, but surrender doesn’t exist in my vocabulary under this context.”

_ “I’d be careful if I were you. After all, I do possess the one person you love above everyone else.” _

Aldrin was helplessly dragged back into view by a pair of stormtroopers. Thrawn pulled out a blaster and held it against Aldrin’s forehead, sending fear into the minds of everyone on the bridge.

_ “Now Captain, what will it be? Your ship? Or her life?” _

“Enough!” screamed Trent. “I give in. we surrender. But under one condition; I meet you and we discuss this man to man.”

_ “If you’ll have it your primitive human way then I shall let it be.” _ signalling to the Stormtroopers, Aldrin was dragged offscreen again before Thrawn turned back to face him.

_ “But I’m warning you Captain. One trick, one false move, and the next time you’ll see Commander Aldrin is after a blaster has shot her at point blank range.” _

The transmission cut out, leaving the Chimaera to once again take up the viewscreen.

“Is it ready Lieutenant?” asked Trent.

“It’s fully programmed sir. You should be able to mimic one of his holo-communiques with astounding accuracy. He’ll never be able to second guess it.”

“Good. Pass it over.”

Horan lightly threw a small, metal disc to Trent, who caught it in his right hand. Tucking it in his pocket, he stepped into a small clearing on the bridge, before ordering. “Initiate a site-to-site transport over to the Chimaera’s bridge. Lieutenant Horan, you have the conn. If you regain power and don’t hear back from me I want you to run as far away as you can from here and get out of the Briar Patch. Call for help as soon as you can.”

“We’ve only got power for one transport sir. Once you’re there, you’ll be all alone.” stated the current engineering officer on the bridge.

“I’m well aware of that.” replied Trent. “Energize.”

And with that, Trent began to disintegrate into a shower of blue particles. The computer began the process of disassembling him into a complex computer code, before reassembling him at his desired location. As soon as that happened however, the engineering console shorted out, leaving the question of Trent’s fate hanging in the balance.


	9. Confrontation

#  Chapter 9: Confrontation

Aboard the bridge of the Chimaera, Captain Trent rematerialized as a wave of blue particles washed over him. Stormtroopers began to bring their weapons to bear at his sudden appearance, surrounding him. Within moments, he had fully materialized in place, enough to look around and see that he was surrounded. 

“Lower your weapons gentlemen.” gently ordered Thrawn, causing the troopers to lower their weapons. “Captain Trent. How nice to see you face to face.”

“Where’s Aldrin and Th’etonnor?” asked Trent.

“Commander Aldrin is right here.” answered Thrawn, gesturing to the now unconscious form of her on the floor. “Your Th’etonnor is somewhat...occupied with my security personnel at the moment. He is refusing to surrender no matter what we tell him.”

“Sounds a bit like him.” 

“Now come with me, Captain, there is much to discuss.”

Thrawn walked towards his study, gesturing for Trent to follow him. With a look of determination on his face, he followed Thrawn into the currently darkened room.

“Look around you Captain, what do you see?” prodded Thrawn as he played a series of holograms around Trent as soon as he entered the room. The doors slammed shut behind him, and in moments, Trent was surrounded by countless images of war and destruction.

Different scenes passed by him. Soldiers from World War 3 fighting in the remains of New York City. The Xindi Probe carving into Florida. Klingon ships annihilating Starfleet ones in a binary star system. The Leyton conspiracy at it’s peak with the Lakota engaging the Defiant. The Dominion War and it’s brutality. Trent could only wonder how Thrawn managed to obtain these records of humanity at it’s darkest points.

“Do you see Captain?” began Thrawn. “Your Federation is weak and incompetent. You claim to be a peace-seeking nation, yet you caused the Dominion to declare war on you by mining the Bajoran Wormhole, violating your own principles in the process. When you confronted the Klingons in the binary star system, you could not prevent them from inflicting their rage upon you, leading to a long and bloody conflict that killed millions. And you can’t even make permanent friends with your biggest neighbours. Like it or not, the Klingons will eventually turn on you. The Romulans will never trust anyone, least of all you. The Cardassians are obedient because they’ve got no military to back them up right now. And the Dominion is only waiting, waiting for the opportunity to catch you off guard at your weakest. It’s clear to me that your Federation is a failed state of patchy alliances and the weak promise of unity through diplomacy.”

“And what, you’re saying that the Empire can do a much better job at it than we can?”

“So much better Captain. Once the Empire comes into power here, there will be no more war. No more infighting and no more bickering. We will raise you past the filth that you have brought upon yourself and humanity will enter a new era of peace and prosperity.”

“Humanity, huh? What about other races? Surely they deserve more as well.”

“Oh come on Captain, surely you won’t want them around anymore? They’ve been the cause of all your problems ever since humanity took to the stars. Didn’t your people hate how the Vulcans treated you like children when it came to interstellar affairs in the 2100’s? Aren’t the Klingons the ones who must constantly be at war otherwise their society collapses? And do the Borg even care that you stand for freedom and prosperity for all? Aliens have always been the ire of humanity, and they always will until we do something about them.”

“I don’t know about you, but that sounds like s### someone put inside your head.” remarked Trent. “You seriously believe that garbage when you yourself are not human?”

“I don’t need to agree with my Emperor to work for him.” replied Thrawn. “I live only to serve.”

“Well I’ll tell you now that everything you’ve just said would be considered a load of bull where I’m from. Sure, the Federation isn’t perfect. We’ve made mistakes and in turn those mistakes have cost the lives of billions across our history. But here’s the thing; the dream of the Federation has survived across all those periods. When all seemed lost, everyone pulled their weight in the hopes of preserving the idea that the Galaxy will, one day, be at peace. Because in the end, the Federation isn’t just a group of worlds who have pooled their resources together to form one larger state; the Federation is a dream. A dream that one day, the bloodshed will stop forever. Where one day, no sentient race will rule supreme over all others. Where all peoples will live in harmony with one another as they unite with a common goal in mind. That dream is coming, and I intend to protect it from those who would destroy it.”

“You can say what you wish to try and bring me over to the idea that your Federation will prevail.” bluntly stated Thrawn. “My first duty is to serve my Emperor, and I intend on doing that for the foreseeable future.”

“And serve you will.” remarked Trent as he pulled out the metal disc from his pocket.

“What is that?”

“Oh, it’s nothing. Just a little something from your precious Emperor.”

The side of the disc facing upwards suddenly lit up, displaying a pre-recorded holographic message. The person talking, however, was what Thrawn would listen to.

_ “Let the Sovereign go.”  _ ordered the small hologram of Emperor Palpatine.  _ “Allow the Starfleet crew members to be beamed off your ship and let Trent leave.” _

“Thrawn to bridge.” announced Thrawn as soon as the hologram finished speaking. “Release the Sovereign from the tractor-immobilizers. Allow the Starfleet crew members to leave on their own accord.”

_ “Sir?”  _

“Just do it!” yelled Thrawn. Trent smiled as Thrawn’s behaviour confirmed his theory. 

“Trent to Sovereign, get Commander Aldrin and the rest of the away team back now! Reconnect the saucer and try to re-power the ship.”

_ “Aye sir. Do we beam you back sir?” _

“Wait for my signal to beam me back. Trent out.”

Noticing how sly Trent looked, Thrawn rushed him and pinned him to the wall.

“What have you done?” he asked, more animalisticly than before.

“I’ve turned your own revival against you.” coyly answered Trent.

“How?!” Thrawn looked and sounded much less like the cool, calm military leader that people knew him as before, rather his behaviour made him seem like some sort of rabid animal.

“Because you’re not Thrawn. You're a transporter copy of his clone. While you eat, think, and breath just like Thrawn, there are several differences between you and him. Namely that you have an Imperial bio-chip implanted in your head that forces you to obey your ‘oh so important’ Emperor, no matter how ridiculous or illogical his requests may be. I initially found it when I was studying the biological layout of the clone’s brain, and I made sure that the transporter pattern included the device to the smallest detail as a last resort in case you came around. Which you did.”

“You fool! I’ll kill you where you stand!” Thrawn grabbed a dagger from his desk and attempted to slit Trent’s throat. The blade, however, stopped inches short of making contact with his skin.

“Now the bio-chip’s kicking in. it recognizes that you’re trying to disobey your Emperor’s orders, and as a result it stops you before you can.” Trent slipped out underneath Thrawn’s arms, casually walking away. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a ship to take care of, a crew to arrest and a Grand Admiral to lead away in chains.”

“Never!” Thrawn screamed as he lunged away from the wall. Instead of attempting to attack Trent, however, Thrawn instead rushed to his desk, where he imputed a few commands into his computer.

A siren suddenly wailed across the ship, followed by a series of red flashing lights and a computerized voice stating  _ “Self-Destruct activated. T-minus 600 seconds to self destruct.” _

“Before you use your false message maker against me, know that I cannot stop this countdown from occurring. In 10 minutes, this ship will explode like a supernova, and you won’t be able to move your ship until long after that time has passed.”

“But that’s suicide. You’ll seriously end the lives of your crew just to avoid your own capture?”

“I will not allow this ship to fall into the hands of your Federation scum. If you want a chance at living, I suggest you leave. Now.”

“Trent to Sovereign. One to beam up.”

With that, Trent’s body dematerialized in a shower of blue particles, leaving Thrawn alone in his study. In frustration, he threw his dagger at the space which Trent once occupied, only for it to harmlessly clatter against the wall. Cursing himself at his failure, he could only activate his monitor and watch as the two halves of the Sovereign reconnected with each other, in a mad attempt to save the ship before the Chimaera blew.

“Report.” hastily demanded Trent as he walked onto the bridge.

“We’ve regained power for our Weapons, short-range communications and scanners.” replied Horan. “The Chimaera’s warp core will reach critical mass in approximately 5 minutes.”

“What about engines? Can we get underway yet?”

“Not yet sir. T’pon’s still trying to purge the impulse reactors of ions. He says that we won’t be able to ignite the impulse engines for another 10 minutes.”

The turbolift doors suddenly re-opened, revealing a rather downtrodden Lieutenant Hawk.

“Sir…” she stuttered as she walked out of the turbolift holding her head in shame. “I-I’m sorry for disobeying your orders and causing us to get into this mess. When we got cut off from each other, I decided to act in an attempt to stop the jamming.”

“It’s alright Lieutenant.” comforted Trent as he turned to face her. “I don’t blame you for trying to resolve the issue herself. In any case, we’d end up in our current situation regardless of whether or not you broke off from our attack plan. I won’t hold anything against you for it. Now will you take your station?”

“Yes sir.” answered Hawk, this time with more confidence in her voice. Walking up to the helm console, she relieved the officer currently manning the station, before taking over herself.

“Bridge to sickbay, status of the away team.”

_ “I’m about to operate on Lieutenant Sutton in order to take out a piece of shrapnel lodged in his knee. Commander Th’etonnor and the rest of his team is currently awaiting to be discharged.” _

“And Commander Aldrin?”

_ “She was attacked pretty brutally sir. She’s got a fractured skull, a few broken ribs and her left arm is broken. I’ve had to sedate her until I’m done with Lieutenant Sutton.” _

“Understood Doc. Keep us apprised. Bridge out.” Trent turned to his bridge crew as he spoke next. “Alright people, we’ve got less than 4 minutes til the Chimaera blows us to kingdom come. We need ideas and we need them now.”

“What if we convert the tractor beam into a repulsor beam and push ourselves away from the Chimaera?” suggested Horan.

“That’s a good idea, except we don’t have the time to modify the tractor beam for that.” rebutted Trent. “Lieutenant Hawk, how far can our thrusters get us?”

“Not very far. At maximum thrust, we’ll only be able to get 2,000 Kilometres away from her before it hits the fan.”

“Captain, we’ve only got 3 minutes now.”

Trent paused as he took in all this news.

“It’s been an honour to serve with you all.” he stated. “Get us out of here, maximum thrusters.”

“Sir, I’m reading multiple contacts entering the area at ¼ impulse.” reported Horan.

“Are they Imperial reinforcements?” asked Trent.

“...No.” confusedly answered Horan as he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

Almost like magic, the Galaxy Class ship Excalibur broke through the clouds of the patch. Alongside her, several assorted ship classes ranging from the cumbersome California Class to the elegant Akira Class came out as well. It appeared that, well and truly, the day was saved.

“Captain, the Excalibur is hailing us.”

“Onscreen.” Trent gladly requested. The face of Captain Mackenzie Calhoun appeared on the screen, surrounded by the familiar layout and scene of a Galaxy Class bridge.

_ “Captain Trent, I was wondering when I’d run into you again.” _

“We couldn’t be happier to see you Captain Calhoun. Could you give us a hand with getting us out of here?”

_ “I can take your ship out of here. I’ll assign the Cerritos to get the Talon and then we can get the hell out of here.” _

“We’d better. The Chimaera’s going to go in less than 3 minutes.”

_ “We’ll be sure to make this quick.” _

“Thank you Captain.” Trent almost ordered the channel closed, before he realised he had something he wanted to ask. “Oh, I almost forgot, can I have an update on the situation by the Archanis bubble?”

_ “Well, believe it or not, we made it. The Olympus and the Enterprise’s fleets managed to destroy the majority of the Imperial taskforce, and sent the rest packing. There was some resistance when the Olympus was boarded by Darth Vader, but I’ve been told that they managed to capture him by the barest of margins.” _

_ “Thank god. For a moment there I thought all this would have been for nothing.” _

_ “We’ll tell you more later. Right now, we have an exploding ship to run away from.” _

_ “We’ll talk more later. Sovereign out.” _

_ “T-minus 60 seconds to Self Destruct.” _

Thrawn sat in a rage as he watched the Sovereign and the Talon get towed away by the Federation reinforcements. He barely had his wits about him anymore, especially after Trent dropped the bomb on how easily Thrawn had been able to be manipulated. The very thought of it was literally driving him insane, destroying the once calm and pristine mind that he had and replacing it with uncertainty, self-doubt and fear. 

_ “T-minus 45 seconds to Self Destruct.” _

As he watched the first of the Federation reinforcements slip into the clouds, he could only begin to wonder; where had he gone wrong? Had he put too much faith in Darth Vader and his ability to execute his plans without losing control of his emotions? Should he have led Captain Trent on a wild goose chase across space, only for him to remove him as a threat without any effort? Was he even meant to be alive right now, existing in this moment of space and time?

_ “T-minus 30 seconds to Self Destruct.” _

Then again, was this entire war even meant to happen? Was the Empire ever meant to come into conflict with the Federation, a people so small yet so powerful? A people with far more thoughtful and intelligent minds than those of the Empire, only limited by the speed at which their vessels could travel at. Thrawn considered, only for a moment, what it would have been like to serve along such people, who would have been much more open to reason and logic than his imperial counterparts.

_ “T-minus 15 seconds to Self Destruct.” _

But it was too late for that now. His story was up, and he would never know what happened afterwards. Would the Federation win? Would the Empire? Would it all end in a stalemate? For the first time in his life, Thrawn truly didn’t know what would happen as he closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable explosion to claim his life.

_ “Self Destruct in T-minus 5, 4, 3, 2, 1-” _

The explosions began at the bridge. They were designed to, in order to wipe out the command staff first so none would survive. The bridge dome atop the saucer of the Chimaera exploded in a blaze of flames, incinerating everyone there and leaving a smouldering wreck in it’s place.

Explosions coursed throughout the ship, opening up deep faults in the thick armour that protected life aboard from the vacuum of space. One by one, the ship’s turbolaser batteries all suffered power overloads, destroying them so no-one else could claim their advanced technologies for their own. The same was done for the tractor-immobilizers, their mounts reduced to nothing but shrapnel and dust.

With a final terrific explosion, the warp core purposely breached itself, sending the antimatter fuel inside in contact with the rest of the ship. The result was a terrific reaction of matter and antimatter, far more powerful than any standard antimatter warhead. The ship was engulfed in the resulting explosion, made even more powerful by the properties of the Briar Patch. 

From the Sovereign’s perspective, it didn’t matter. A huge flash of light from behind the clouds and a minor tremor from the explosion signalled the end of the event. Now exiting the Briar Patch, the Sovereign was surrounded by the Excalibur’s warp field, before warping away into the distance with the rest of the Federation fleet.


	10. The End?

#  Chapter 10: The End?

_ Captain’s Log, Stardate 58511.43. After 2 days being towed by the Excalibur at high warp, the Sovereign has arrived at Starbase 47 for major repairs and resupply. Normally it would be months before we were back in action due to our destroyed nacelle. Luckily however, Starbase 47 has been outfitted with an experimental repair system which allows captains to quickly customize their ships’ appearances with parts from other starships through the use of large scale replicators. While I’m not too keen on changing the overall appearance of my ship, I have been told that they can replace the Starboard Nacelle in less than two days, and we’ll be back in the fight after another three. Until then, I’ve ordered shore leave for all my crew; they’ve worked hard for it. In the meantime, I have other matters that I need to attend to. _

In her quarters, Commander Aldrin sat alone on her couch as she contemplated her choices in the dark. It was foolish of her, to suggest that they could land security officers aboard the Chimaera and expect to win. Her foolishness had cost the lives of several of her shipmates, lives that could never be replaced.

The doorbell chimed, prompting a sobre “Come.” to escape her mouth. The doors to her quarters opened to reveal the last person she thought would want to see her.

“I came to check if you were all right.” stated Trent.

“Well, you know now don’t you?” 

Tossing his PADD onto the nearby coffee table, Trent fell onto the couch next to her.

“Computer, raise the light level to 80%.” requested Trent, causing the lights to automatically brighten the room. The change in lighting revealed a greatly saddened Aldrin, with the remains of long since dried tears staining her face.

“I just had to write to the families of the away team I ordered to come with me.” began Aldrin. “Did you know that Lieutenant Wilhelm was engaged? I just had to write to his spouse to let him know that Wilhelm was killed in the line of duty. Do you have any idea how difficult it was to imagine the feeling that he might be feeling? Those feelings that your loved ones are never going to come home, ever? I’ve destroyed his family, just like I destroyed the families of the other 4 officers.”

Aldrin almost broke into another round of sobs before Trent pulled her face into his chest.

“You know, you’re one of the strongest and bravest people I know.” remarked Trent. “There isn’t anyone else I’d rather have as my first officer. You can do so many things that I’d rather not do, like leading a ground assault or connecting more to junior officers. I mean look at me; I’m not as good with a phaser as you are, despite the rank difference between us.”

“But if I can’t handle the deaths of those under my command right now, then how can I handle them when I’m Captain and I have to?”

“You know, I remember reading the autobiography of James. T Kirk back when I have to. There was a part where he was dealing with a group of non-corporeal lifeforms who wanted to use the bodies of himself and two other Enterprise crew members in order for them to build android bodies for themselves. He recalled discussing this with his crew, and in the end, they went through with it. He quoted ‘Risk is our business. That's what this starship is all about. That's why we're aboard her.’ I think that pretty much sums we as Starfleet officers up; we know the risks involved with this job, and how the multiverse is full of wonders both beautiful and deadly. But if we never take those risks, if we never leave the comfort of what we know, then how will we grow as a species? If Zefram Cochrane never risked flying the Phoenix, then how would we form the Federation? If Kirk never risked going on his first 5 year mission, then how would a less capable Captain have fared? If the first primate didn’t come down from the tree, then would we as humans even exist? Risk’s always been there, whether we like it or not. All we can do is accept that it exists and deal with it as it comes.”

“And that’s what it means to be a Captain.” finished Aldrin.

“I have no doubt that you’ll be a fine Captain one day Miral. And true, there will be days where the bad things will get the better of you. All you can do is deal with it as best as you can so no more lives are lost.”

“You know, it feels like right now we’ve had a bit of a role reversal.” pointed out Aldrin. “Now you’re giving me advice for me to deal with what’s going on in my head.”

“What can I say, it’s all I can do for what you’ve done for me over the past few months.”

“Don’t you have a briefing with Admiral Picard and Captain Mercer about our encounter with Thrawn?”

“Been there, done that. Like it or not, I’m free for the next week.” 

“Good.” Replied Aldrin with a grin. “Because I’m free as well…”

In a modified isolation chamber aboard Starbase 47, Darth Vader was alone, held in place by the magnetic floor and restraints bounding his suit in place. Outside, a strange device held all his midichlorians in stasis outside, cutting him off from the force. For the first time in nearly 2 decades, Vader did not feel rage or anger. 

Playing events back in his head, he just couldn’t see why he had been so rash and angry; it had caused him to be in his current situation after all. Had he not ordered the fleet to launch early, he would not have fallen into the Alliance interdiction trap just after they left the region of space which they controlled. He would not have lost hundreds of his ships as they were dragged out of hyperspace and destroyed before they were given the chance to react. He would not have, in his fit of rage, crashed his TIE fighter in the briefly unshielded Starfleet Galaxy X Class Dreadnought in a desperate attempt to salvage the battle. 

He would not have been in the process of slaughtering the Starfleet security officers when the floor plating beneath him magnetized his body in place. He would not have then had all his midichlorians transported out of his body, leaving him powerless as he was then formally arrested by the Captain of the vessel.

He heard faint voices outside the thin forcefield that separated him from freedom. “Are you sure you want to do this?” asked one of them.

“I want to.” bluntly answered the other. “I need to see him.”

“Very well then Commander.” stated the first voice. The forcefield briefly lowered, allowing the other person to step into Vader’s isolation area, before it reactivated behind him.

“You know, when I was first told you were my Father, I was shocked.” stated the person as he walked up to Vader. Vader looked down as he knew who it was, yet too scared to look him in the eye.

“So, the almighty Anikin Skywalker, brought down to this.” 

“I would be careful with your tongue child,” snapped Vader, “for that name no longer has meaning to me.”

“Then what about Padme Amidala?” asked the person. “What about Leia Organa?”

A hand grabbed the chin of Vader’s mask, forcing him to look up at his confronter.

“What about Luke Skywalker?”

Vader could see his son clearly through the red of his mask. He was wearing a Starfleet uniform, with corresponding rank pips to suggest that he was a Lieutenant Commander. At the same time, he wore Vader’s old Jedi lightsaber on his belt, indicating that he had been going through Jedi training.

_ But from who? _ Vader asked himself as he wondered just how far his son had strayed into the light.

“Obi-Wan’s been teaching me the ways of the Jedi for the past year.” coincidently answered Luke. “In addition to that, I’ve been serving as the Second Officer and Security Chief of the USS Enterprise for the past 3 months.”

Vader’s eyes turned away as Luke turned away from him in disgust.

“I know you’re too afraid to see me behind that mask. In your eyes, I’m the splitting image of you back when you were a Jedi. You’re afraid that I’ll go down a similar, dark path, just like you.”

“How could you tell?” asked Vader in confusion.

“It’s what I would have been thinking.” answered Luke.

_ “Picard to Skywalker.” _ came through Luke’s combadge.

“Go ahead Captain.” replied Luke as he tapped his combadge in response.

_ “The Enterprise is departing in 30 minutes. I suggest you wrap up whatever you’re doing and get back here.” _

“Alright then sir. I’ll be over shortly.”

_ “Picard out.” _

“Duty calls.” remarked Luke as he turned to walk away. Just as he was about to signal the guard, he heard a desperate voice from behind him.

“Wait!” called Vader, causing Luke to slowly turn around to face him once more. “Tell your sister I apologize for all my misdeeds. I know that meeting me now I am nothing like the fierce and terrifying image I have created for myself, but from now on, I will do everything in my power to make sure the two of you are safe.”

“I will.” Luke replied. “And I hope one day, we come to think of you that way as well.”

Luke turned away as the cell wall deactivated, allowing him to step outside and walk away. With that, the forcefield reactivated, leaving Vader once more alone.

In the relative darkness of what could be considered 0600 hours ship’s time, Trent gradually woke up as the lights of a nearby workbee shone through the window. Next to him lay Aldrin, sound asleep underneath the covers of the bed. He took note of how peaceful she looked while she was asleep, how her soft smile seemingly melted alongside the rest of her body. The light of the nearby star shone through the window, momentarily interrupted by the framework of the drydock the ship was now in, as the facility orbited the planet in perfect sync with the mushroom shaped form of Starbase 47.

Using his best efforts not to awake her, Trent slowly got up and out of the bed. He walked over to the replicator and imputed the commands for a small sized glass of water. His refreshment materialized in a small shower of blue particles, first the glass, then the water.

As he took a sip from the glass, he couldn’t help but wonder to himself; had they really vanquished Thrawn? After all, he was only a clone. The Empire had the capability to produce millions of them if they wanted to. There was no doubt in his mind that this probably wouldn’t be the last time he came face to face with Grand Admiral Thrawn.

Then again, could the Federation even prevail against something like the Empire? An enemy so ruthless and inhumane, yet so very human at the same time? They acted nothing like the humans of his own universe; where the Federation humans were kinder and more open to talking, humans from the Empire and that universe tended to be more aggressive and weaponized.

For a societal researcher, it was like a dream come true. A chance to see humanity had it taken a different path to that of their own universe. While they proved to be nothing like Hodgkin’s theory of Multiverse Parallel Development, it was still striking to see how instead of embracing values of equality and peaceful exploration, these humans had remained stuck in Earth’s past, still obsessed with things such as material wealth and power, using prejudice and violence in order to get their way. 

There may have been a time where those humans had been more adventurous, and looked to the stars with a sense of wonder and not greed. However, they certainly didn’t display those tendencies now; they left the equivalent of an entire quadrant of their galaxy unexplored while they warred with one another over which side of their mysterious ‘Force’ would be dominant. The area in question, deemed the ‘Unknown Regions’ by those who inhabited that galaxy, had since been denounced as ‘dangerous’, and few had dared to venture into the region since.

Should Starfleet find a way to end the war, they would be left with the tools to explore the rest of their own galaxy, as well as begin to explore these Unknown Regions. The introduction of the hyperdrive would allow Starfleet to quickly chart the remainder of their galaxy, as well as make journeys in mere days which would normally take years. The Unknown Regions would be no more unknown; from there, Starfleet could encourage unity and cooperation within the Empire and, in time, perhaps reform it into the Republic it once was.

_ But that was thinking too far ahead. _ Thought Trent as he looked out of the window and onto his ship. Aldrin’s quarters were on the starboard side of the ship and faced rearward, giving Trent a view out to see how the repairs were going.

It had appeared that they had disconnected the old, damaged Nacelle already, leaving behind only the main pylon and connection points. A new nacelle was in the works above the ship, with individual parts being replicated and transported into place as he watched. It wouldn’t be long before this ship saw action once more in this seemingly endless war.

And what of the war anyhow? How long could the Federation remain in this war before it began to buckle under the pressure? Sure, it had far more resources than the Empire due to replicator technology, but they surely couldn’t manufacture morale as quickly as they could ships.

Outside, ships were going into and leaving Starbase 47 in the vacuum of space. All of varying classes and sizes, they would soon be back on the frontlines of the war, fighting for the Federation and what it stood for. It wouldn’t be long before the Sovereign rejoined these ships in the fight to save everything they stood for.

_ Until then... _ thought Trent as he continued to stare out the window, ever wary of what the future could bring.


	11. Epilogue

#  Epilogue

They came without warning. Not that Palpatine didn’t already know they were coming. He could sense their void presence as it made it’s way from the recently opened anomaly around Naboo towards Coruscant, claiming anything and everything standing in it’s way. Ships sent to investigate the silence mysteriously disappeared themselves, only for others who barely escaped the monstrosities described seeing the ships and crews as ‘Zombies’. Palpatine had spent valuable time and resources into convincing the populace that this menace from the other universe was under control, and he had diverted his fleets accordingly to deal with the menace. What a waste that would be.

Their lone ship had dropped out of hyperspace above Coruscant, where his fleets had been waiting for them to show up. However, instead of beating them back to where they came from, the fleets had proven to be nothing but flies on the back of the monstrisity, most ships being wiped out before they could get any shots off. Those who did manage to get a few shots off against them quickly found themselves carved up like a meal by their cutting beams while their crews were engulfed in the void which they created.

Their cold, robotic voice, working together as one, was what truly frightened him. These beings didn’t relax, didn’t socialize, didn’t do any of the things that normal beings did. All they craved for was for all beings of all races to be subsumed into their shared collective, no matter what cost.

Their voices once again echoed throughout the planet’s communication systems as the last remaining Imperial ship in orbit ceased firing.

_ “We are the Borg. Lower your planetary shields and surrender yourselves. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile.” _

Their ship proceeded to probe the shield with their tractor beams, collecting data on the shield below them, how it worked, what frequencies it occupied. More importantly, where it was being emitted from. 

With deadly accuracy, the cube-shaped ship began firing green missile-like weapons at the planet, which phased through the shield and hit the shield emitters on the planet. All around the planet, devastation was afoot as massive structures of metal and glass collapsed, causing further structural collapses deep inside the underworld of the planet.

With the shield down, they began beaming thousands of drones down to the planet below, beginning their assimilation of the planet below. No corner of the planet was safe from their relentless waves of drones, and no matter how many the locals could kill, more would take their place alongside an immunity to the firearms used against them.

In his Imperial throne room, Palpatine was in the midst of fighting off hordes of these so called ‘Borg’ from claiming him just like they had his personal guards. The borg had already adapted to the use of the guards force pikes and blasters, and a few were currently on the floor writhing around as the nano-probes began the short and painful process of assimilation. Palpatine knew that unless he could get rid of these drones, it would only be a matter of time before the rest of his empire fell.

He bisected a drone attempting to ambush him from behind with his lightsaber, before force pushing an assimilated stormtrooper off a nearby railing and into the abyss below. As a dozen drones mindlessly marched towards him, he utilized his force lightning to his advantage, frying the electrical components aboard the drones and causing them all to collapse to the floor in a smoking heap. As a drone extended it’s assimilation tubes behind him, he leapt away and hurried towards the more defensible location of his balcony.

He only needed to look across Coruscant for a moment to know that the situation was lost. All across the landscape, fires burned as civilians fought on the streets for their lives. Their cube ship had descended into a much lower orbit, allowing it to be seen by the naked eye. It would have been a true spectacle to behold, had they not been the victims of this attack.

“I will not lose!” exclaimed Palpatine as he let loose another wave of force lightning upon the attacking drones. “I am the first Galactic Emperor! I control this entire Galaxy! I have not suffered for years to lose it all to you whelps!”

Just as he finished his sentence, a massive explosion echoed across the planet. Above, the Borg cube crumpled as it began falling to the planet’s surface, powerless to stop itself. Within moments, several more shots impacted upon the cube, destroying it in a magnificent ball of flame. Various pieces of debris fell from the sky as drones collapsed left right and centre, their local unimatrix destroyed leaving them without the steady guiding voice of the collective. Palpatine could only gaze up in wonder at who had come and saved him.

Their ships looked like Star Destroyers, save much larger and more advanced. Their central command ship dwarfed them all, with it’s shape being more avian and aerodynamic compared to anything the Empire currently possessed. Palpatine had envisioned such ships as part of a grand contingency plan in the case of his early death; yet none of them had even made it to the drawing board yet. So who were these people who had created their ships from ideas that existed only in his head?

A silent beeping sound from his chamber indicated that he had a message coming in. trampling over the dozens of dead or dying borg that lay between him and the console, he made his way over to hear what his contact had to say. Activating the speakers, he played the message out.

_ “My name is Kylo Ren.” _ it began.  _ “And there is much we need to discuss.” _

_ Admiral’s log, Stardate 58516.08. An anomaly of unknown origin has opened up close to Earth. Given the potential for it to connect to another universe, the Enterprise and the Discovery have been sent to intercept any new arrivals which may come through. I can only hope that whatever comes out is not aggressive like the Empire. _

“Report.” requested Picard as he walked onto the bridge of the Enterprise. 

“Discovery reports no change in anomaly energy growth Admiral.” reported Worf as he greeted his commanding officer. “So far it has remained silent.”

“Lieutenant Elfiki, have you completed your analysis of the anomaly?”

“I have.” replied Elfiki just before she began her analysis. “The anomaly does bear similarities to the Ivor anomaly, except I’m reading lots of high energy tachyons as well. There is a large buildup of these tachyons in the centre of the anomaly, and it’s steadily growing.”

“I’m sorry, what’s a tachyon?” asked Luke from his position by the tactical console.

“A tachyon is a subatomic particle indicative of time travel or temporal incursions.” answered Picard before he turned back to Elfiki. “Are you saying this is a temporal anomaly instead of a spatial one?”

“There’s no better explanation sir.”

“Captain, I’m reading a massive energy buildup within the anomaly.” announced Luke. “Something’s coming through.”

“Yellow alert.” ordered Picard. The tone of the Enterprise shifted as people began to move faster. The Discovery adopted a similar tone of urgency as the anomaly began to pulsate.

“Sir, the build up of energy is coming from within the centre of the anomaly.” remarked Elfiki. “I think the anomaly is building up to a wave where it will release these tachyons across all levels of space.”

“Can it be stopped?” asked Picard.

“Not with the time we have now sir. At this rate the anomaly will reach critical mass in 15 seconds.”

“Will it have any effect on the Enterprise?”

“Unknown sir. But I recommend we raise the shields.”

“Do it. Order Discovery to do the same.” 

“Captain, the anomaly is about to reach critical mass!”

“All hands brace for impact!”

Both the Enterprise and the Discovery were hit by a bright flash of light, temporarily blinding all their scanners. Hit by the shockwave, the two ships were knocked back slightly, before their engines kicked in in order to counteract the impact. Aboard both ships, crewmembers were rocked around as their ships fought to remain in place.

When it was all over, Picard was sitting down in his command chair, holding on for dear life. Across the bridge, standing crewmembers were picking themselves off the floor as those seated began to interact with their consoles.

“Reports coming in from all decks.” announced Luke. “No casualties. Discovery reports the same.”

“Run a complete check of our time and location.” ordered Picard.

“Captain, the temporal wave is continuing to expand behind us.” reported Elfiki. “It has accelerated through hyperspace. At it’s current rate it will engulf all of Federation space in the next 5 days.”

“Captain.” gestured Worf, making Picard look up once more at the viewscreen to his great surprise.

There were another 8 ships there, all of varying sizes. An NX Class ship, at least 2 Constitution Class ships, an Excelsior Refit Class, an Ambassador Class and a Galaxy Class. One of the Constitution Class ships looked to be from the late 2250’s, whereas the other looked to be after the class’ last major refit in the 2290’s.

The other two ships were unlike any ship he had ever seen. One of them appeared to be a natural progression of the Galaxy and Sovereign Class designs, with a large oval shaped saucer connected to a Stardrive through two necks on either side of the stardrive. These lead on to two streamlined nacelles, which flowed backwards until they tapered off at their ends. The overall ship turned up being just over a Kilometre in length, and Picard was awestruck at it’s seemingly futuristic look.

Turning his attention to the other ship, he was surprised how much it bore similarities to a Constitution Class starship. The hull plating reflected a bright white in stark contrast to other Federation ships, and the Bussard collectors and deflector dish emitted a blue light when compared to the other pre-refit Constitution class there. The ship was much larger than it’s companions too, and was only dwarfed by the larger futuristic ship in size.

“I’m getting identifications.” began Luke as he read through the names of the ships. “Captain, they’re all the Enterprise.”

“I don’t believe it.” remarked Elfiki. “The anomaly must be superimposing the past and the future into our time.”

“What of the other two ships?”

“The larger one’s transponder records it as the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-F, Yorktown Class. The smaller one however is calling itself the USS Enterprise NCC-1701, Constitution Class.”

“So we’ve got every single version of the Enterprise right here, right now.” remarked Picard. “But what’s this alternate version of the Enterprise doing here as well?”

“Captain, we’re being hailed by all 8 of those ships.”

“Onscreen.” Each Captain popped up on the screen as they began their hails one after another.

_ “This is Captain Johnathan Archer of the Starfleet ship Enterprise. Please identify yourselves.” _

_ “This is Captain Christopher Pike of the Federation Starship Enterprise. Why’s Discovery here when it’s the 24th century?” _

_ “This is Captain James. T Kirk of the USS Enterprise. Please identify yourself.” _

_ “This is Captain John Harriman of the Federation ship Enterprise. Please acknowledge.” _

_ “Rachel Garret here, of the Federation Flagship Enterprise. What the hell’s going on?” _

_ “This is Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Federation Starship Enterprise. Please Identify yourselves.” _

_ “This is Captain Va’Kel Shon of the USS Enterprise-F. Identify yourselves.” _

_ “This is Captain James. T Kirk of the Federation Starship Enterprise. What’s going on?” _


End file.
